Chemdex to buy pharmaceutical site
By Bloomberg News
Special to CNET News.com
September 21, 1999, 9:35 p.m. PT
Chemdex, an Internet site selling laboratory chemicals and equipment, said it will
buy closely held Promedix.com for about $334 million in stock to begin selling
products to hospitals.
Chemdex, which went public in July, will pay 12.1 million shares for Salt Lake City-based
Promedix.com.
Two-year-old Chemdex operates a Web site selling chemicals, enzymes, and equipment
from more than 150 suppliers to universities, biotech start-ups, and pharmaceutical
companies. With the purchase of Promedix.com, Palo Alto, California-based Chemdex will
sell more than 260,000 items from 500 suppliers, adding specialty products such as
pacemakers and catheters for sale to hospitals and large medical practices.
"We're not competing with the distributors," said Martha Greer, vice president of marketing
for Chemdex. "We're a market maker to help these small specialty-chemical and
medical-product makers connect with their customers."
Promedix.com, which will remain a separate business unit, won't sell commodity products
such as syringes or bandages. Instead, it will concentrate on specialty items like
hip-replacement products and blood filters.
Skip Klintworth, co-founder and chief executive of Promedix.com, will continue to run the
unit and will join Chemdex's board.
Tenet Healthcare, the second-largest U.S. hospital company, is making a $5 million
investment in Promedix.com, Greer said.
Chemdex shares rose 4.88 to 27.63 yesterday.
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