Accredo posts record results

The Commercial Appeal
Feb 24, 2010
By Toby Sells, sells@commercialappeal.com

Accredo Health Group Inc. posted a record-breaking year and quarter based on new client wins and overall growth in the specialty pharmaceutical industry.

Accredo is the Memphis-based specialty pharmaceutical division of Medco Health Solutions Inc., which is based in New Jersey.

In 2009, the Memphis division reported revenues of $9.5 billion, up 19.5 percent over 2008's $8 billion figure.

Accredo recorded revenues of roughly $2.5 billion in its fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 26, a 17.7 percent spike over $2 billion in revenues posted the same time last year.

Accredo president Steve Fitzpatrick said the company's success continued to rely on winning new clients and adding new programs to the company's broad spectrum of services.

"But as much as we've grown, now to $9.5 billion, the thing I'm most proud of is that we continue to focus on the patient," Fitzpatrick said.

Accredo packs and ships specialty drugs from Memphis to patients all over the country. It offers drugs to treat often chronic or rare conditions like hypertension or hemophilia.

The company also employs pharmacists and clinical specialists to help those patients administer and monitor the drugs through phone and digital communication. In total, the company employs about 1,500 in Memphis.

Medco, too, broke yearly and quarterly records with its latest earnings report. 2009 revenues of $59.8 billion beat 2008 revenues by 16 percent. Fourth-quarter revenues were up 17 percent to $15.2 billion.

Medco CEO David B. Snow Jr. said new business drove the company's growth. The company has won $4.3 billion in new sales so far in 2010, according to a news release.

"Medco's clinically driven programs are continuing to win in the marketplace," Snow said noting the company expects to retain 99 percent of its customers in 2010.

-- Toby Sells: 529-2742