Kinderhook Forms Specialty Pharmacy Platform Under Avita Pharmacy

Kinderhook has acquired Paramount Specialty Pharmacy and PharmBlue Holdings and will combine them with its existing pharmacy companies Long’s Drugs and PharMedQuest. The new merged platform will operate under the name of Avita Pharmacy.

Kinderhook makes control investments in companies with transaction values of $25 million to $150 million in which the firm can achieve financial, operational and growth improvements. Sectors of interest include healthcare services, environmental and business services, and automotive and light manufacturing.

Kinderhook acquired Long’s Drugs and PharMedQuest in November 2019. Long’s Drugs owns and operates over 30 pharmacies in the Southeast under the Avita and Longs brands; and PharMedQuest owns and operates 28 pharmacies across California. The companies’ pharmacies serve indigent and underserved populations including Ryan White Clinics (a Federal program that provides HIV-related health services), federally qualified health centers, and STD clinics.

Avita, with the recent acquisitions, now provides on-site and central fill pharmacy services through more than 60 pharmacies, with over 250 covered entity relationships that serve more than 120,000 patients. Covered entities (defined under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA)) include insurance companies, health maintenance organizations, government programs, military and veterans’ health programs, healthcare providers and healthcare clearinghouses.

Long’s Drugs and Avita Pharmacy merged in June 2016 and rebranded as Longs Pharmacy Solutions (LPS) in 2018. Kinderhook recapitalized Long’s and PharMedQuest in December 2019. The combination of Longs and PharMedQuest united two of the leading on-site pharmacy management services providers for Covered Entities, with a national presence. Executives from the Longs management team joined PharMedQuest in facilitating the integration of the companies and continued growth of Covered Entity pharmacy services.

PharmBlue is a pharmacy services organization that provides personalized care to a specialized client and patient population, and the clinicians who serve them. We serve thousands of enrolled members throughout the country and fill all member pharmacy needs with a special focus on HIV and AIDS, Hepatitis C, and Behavioral Health members.

Serving patients needing specialty medications with quality and coordinated healthcare. Paramount Specialty Pharmacy focuses its expertise to provide therapies for infectious disease and other specialty conditions that require exceptional care. IslandCare changed its name and branding to Paramount Specialty Pharmacy in 2017 to reflect their rapidly expanding reach and growing offering of innovative services.

Takeaway: Kinderhook’s transactions will enhance Avita’s presence in the Southeast and West Coast with new hubs in the Midwest and Northeast