Walgreens And Prime Therapeutics Unveil New Pharmacy Venture

There’s always room for improvement, and that holds true for the pharmacy industry.

Walgreens and pharmacy benefit manager Prime Therapeutics closed their deal to join forces for a new pharmacy and mail services company dubbed AllianceRx Walgreens. With a workforce of about 3,000, the new venture will be headquartered in Orlando and rolled out over the next several months. During this transition time period, both Walgreens and Prime customers will continue to receive the same core business services.

AllianceRx Walgreens’ new CEO, Joel Wright, commented on this partnership and his new role. He said, “I’m honored to have the opportunity to lead this innovative company, and with a strong leadership team and experienced employees, we’ll be well positioned to meet the evolving prescription drug needs of consumers. Leveraging Walgreens’ pharmacy network and operational efficiencies, along with the pharmacy benefit management expertise of Prime, we have the resources to deliver better care coordination, patient outcomes, and exceptional care and service to patients and payers.”

Throughout the new company rollout, customers of central specialty pharmacy and mail services will slowly transition into the combined offering of new resources including 24/7 pharmacy support and improved medication adherence. Full integration of Walgreens with Prime is expected to be complete by early 2018.

Prime’s president and CEO, Jim DuCharme, expressed the benefits for both companies’ customers. He said, “I am pleased with the progress to date to launch this innovative joint venture and to ensuring the success of our new alliance. Already the retail pharmacy network agreement component of our alliance is yielding considerable savings for our plans and their members, as fully 50 percent of Prime’s members have transitioned into a network anchored by Walgreens. We have built a powerful team of leaders at our joint company with the experience to deliver efficiencies and enhanced care coordination through our combined pharmacies. I look forward to this joint company delivering better health outcomes and deeper savings for our health plans and members for years to come and to governing the new company together with Walgreens.”