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SOURCE: Advance Paradigm, Inc.
Advance Paradigm, Inc. Announces Acquisition of Innovative Medical Research Inc.
IRVING, Texas, Feb. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Advance Paradigm Inc., (Nasdaq: ADVP - news), today announced that it has entered into an
agreement to acquire Innovative Medical Research, Inc., (IMR), a privately-held clinical trial and survey research firm based in Baltimore, Maryland. Advance Paradigm will issue 900,000 of its common stock for all of the fully diluted shares of IMR. The acquisition is expected to be effective today, and will be accounted for as a tax-free pooling of interest. The transaction is expected to be accretive to earnings in the fiscal year ending March 31, 1999.
IMR, has developed leading-edge systems to conduct clinical trials and survey research for the pharmaceutical and managed care industries.
IMR's survey capabilities for biomedical and epidemiological studies are both innovative and proprietary and have important applications
within the managed care industry. The IMR system for clinical trials provides for more rapid patient enrollment than by most traditional
methods. The clinical timeline is greatly accelerated, which is of significant value to IMR's clients. Since the introduction of IMR's system in 1993, IMR has undertaken studies for many of the major pharmaceutical companies in a broad range of therapeutic classes. With the acquisition, Advance Paradigm's database resources will substantially broaden IMR's capability in surveying and trials recruitment through enhanced case finding and provider identification.
''The acquisition of IMR will allow Advance Paradigm to significantly enhance our Health Benefit Management product offerings,'' said
David D. Halbert, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Advance Paradigm. ''IMR's clinical trials and outcomes research expertise will
facilitate expansion of our disease management developmental efforts through outcomes and severity assessment as well as disease specific
protocol development.''
''IMR's sophisticated surveying capabilities allows us to provide our clients with patient adequacy of care, quality of life and member
satisfaction surveys,'' Halbert continued. ''These capabilities will enable Advance Paradigm to provide our managed care clients with
valuable assistance as they pursue NCQA accreditation as well as support efforts to deliver optimal care for their members.''
''We are excited to have access to the managed care relationships and databases that Advance Paradigm brings us,'' said Richard Lipton,
M.D., Chief Executive Officer of IMR. ''We are pleased to be affiliated with such a highly respected, clinically focused organization.''
Current initiatives being undertaken by IMR include clinical trials and outcome research for disease states such as: chronic pain, asthma,
dementia, constipation, osteoarthritis and others. In addition, the Company is performing epidemiological studies, some of which include: impaired memory, diabetes, headache and urinary incontinence. Recent accomplishments include being the lead investigator for the Excedrin(R) Migraine Program and the Robert Wood Johnson asthma disease management analysis. IMR recently completed major epidemiological studies in tension type headache (Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), February 4, 1998, Vol. 279, No.
5.), urinary incontinence and gastro-intestinal disorders.
''IMR will become the research and development arm for our disease management programs,'' Halbert continued. ''Our objective is to
become a leader in the development of treatment protocol research for the disease states where the Company has involvement. Advance
Paradigm's large database will facilitate case finding and the implementation of interventions which will provide cost-effective improvement in patient outcomes. In addition, IMR's expertise in severity assessment will be a very important instrument for refining our disease management programs.''
Advance Paradigm, Inc. is a leading independent provider of health benefit management (HBM) services. The Company provides
cost-effective, high-quality, integrated pharmacy benefit management (PBM) services including innovative clinical programs, mail service
and sophisticated claims adjudication with PPO and EPO network management. The Company's expanding HBM programs include
customized disease management programs targeted at specific disease states and personal care management (PCM) capabilities. Advance
Paradigm's client base of more than 12 million lives includes HMOs, PPOs, BlueCross BlueShield organizations, Fortune 500 employers,
insurance carriers and third party administrators.
This press release includes statements which may constitute forward- looking statements, under the safe harbor provision of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This information may involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ
materially from the forward-looking statements. Factors which could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to,
factors detailed in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. |
