UnitedHealth Acquires Avella Specialty Pharmacy to Build Optum Unit
UnitedHealth Group Inc. bought Avella Specialty Pharmacy that will further boost its already-growing pharmacy offerings. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, and UnitedHealth declined to provide any further details about the takeover, which was identified in the company’s third-quarter earnings press release on Tuesday.
Privately-held Avella, based in Phoenix, had revenue of $1.35 billion in 2017, according to its listing on the Inc. 5000, a ranking of fast-growing companies. The company has been on the list for more than a decade, and the list said that the company had three-year revenue growth of 71 percent.
“The combination of OptumRx and Avella will improve specialty-pharmacy care services and health outcomes for consumers, while helping reduce overall health-care costs,” Optum spokesman Matt Stearns said in an email.
The Avella acquisition came in the same quarter that UnitedHealth purchased Genoa Healthcare, a behavioral health pharmacy chain, for about $2.5 billion. The expansions contributed to accelerating revenue growth in the company’s OptumRx pharmacy segment, which reported sales of $17.4 billion in the third quarter, up 9.3 percent from the previous year.
What does this transaction mean for the strategic options for your healthcare business?
Contact Paragon Ventures for more information. www.paragonventures.com 800-719-1555




