| Wolters Kluwer has completed the acquisition of the Medi-Span business (Indianapolis, Indiana, United States) from First DataBank, Inc. (San Bruno, California, United States). Medi-Span has annual sales of approximately EUR 28 million (USD 26 million) and provides electronic drug data to US pharmacies, hospitals, health insurers, physicians and system vendors. The business will be merged with Facts & Comparisons (St. Louis, Missouri, United States), a wholly owned subsidiary of Wolters Kluwer, to connect the complementary strengths of both organizations. The acquisition supports Wolters Kluwer's strategy to integrate its professional content with software and services to provide real-time solutions for customers. Financial terms of the deal will not be disclosed. The return on this transaction is expected to exceed Wolters Kluwer's normative cost of capital. The United States Federal Trade Commission approved the acquisition mid December, as part of a settlement with the Hearst Corporation, parent company of First DataBank. The federal district court approved the settlement just before Christmas. |
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Medi-Span provides electronic drug data and clinical information that is fully integrated into the business systems software at more than 20,000 pharmacies, 2,000 hospitals, and numerous health insurers and physicians' offices. Medi-Span's drug database includes over 100 elements for all prescription and over- the-counter products sold in the United States, including details on dosages, strengths, ingredients, pricing data, and product coding. Additional modules cross check for drug interactions, allergic reactions, dosage errors, and other patient specific factors. The database is continuously updated to reflect new research findings, changes in government recommendations or other changes in drug status.
Hugh Yarrington, Member of the Executive Board of Wolters Kluwer and responsible for the International Health & Science cluster, said about the acquisition of Medi-Span: 'We are very pleased to add Medi-Span to our International Health & Science business. Integrating our respected and detailed clinical content with Medi-Span's business solution software will allow us to provide superior point-of-care solutions for our professional customers.
We also will utilize Medi-Span's offerings across company lines, creating an expert drug database that can be integrated with product offerings from other Wolters Kluwer companies, including Lippincott Williams & Wilkins and Adis International. The acquisition is an important step in realizing our cluster and corporate vision to seek growth as a supplier of solution-based products and services for professionals.'
Medi-Span was acquired by First DataBank, Inc. in 1998. The United States Federal Trade Commission required that First DataBank, Inc. and parent company Hearst Corporation divest the Medi-Span assets.
'The divestiture of the Medi-Span databases to Facts & Comparisons should provide an added dimension to competition in the database market given the expertise of Facts & Comparison in the drug business,' said Susan Creighton, Deputy Director of the FTC's Bureau of Competition. |
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Note for the editor:
Facts & Comparisons (St. Louis, Missouri, United States) is a premier provider of current, accurate, and unbiased drug information for pharmacists and other healthcare professionals. Its flagship publication, Drug Facts and Comparisons® is one of the best-selling publications among health professionals and is a first-line reference drug information source. Facts and Comparisons provides its drug information library of more than 40 publications via hand held applications, CD-ROM, Internet, and Intranet applications and integrated databases - in addition to the bound publications and updated loose-leaf references that have been the accepted standard for many years. The company is part of the International Health & Science cluster of Wolters Kluwer nv.
Wolters Kluwer is a multinational information services company with annual sales of approximately EUR 3.7 billion, employing approximately 19,000 people in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific. The company's core activities are Legal, Tax & Business, International Health & Science, and Education. The Wolters Kluwer shares are quoted on the Euronext Amsterdam. The financial results for the year 2001 will be announced on March 19, 2002.
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