ELMSFORD, N.Y. — Pharmacy services helped fuel an overall revenue gain at BioScrip Inc. for the company’s 2011 fourth-quarter and full fiscal year.
BioScrip said Friday that total sales for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 rose 7.3% to $483.3 million. Revenue for the pharmacy services business climbed 7.1% in the quarter to $361.7 million, while sales in the infusion/home health services segment gained 8% to $121.6 million.
For the full year, revenue advanced 12.5% to $1.8 billion. Pharmacy services sales came in at $1.4 billion, up 8.4%. BioScrip attributed the gain to volume from new managed care contracts; growth in the oncology, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis therapies; industrywide drug inflation; and a rise in discount cash card programs sales.
Meanwhile, infusion/home health services sales for the year surged 19.6% to $451 million, which BioScrip said was mainly a result of incremental revenue from the Critical Homecare Solutions Inc. business acquired in March 2010. Excluding the incremental first-quarter related to the acquired CHS business, the infusion/home health services segment’s 2011 rose 2.8%, according to BioScrip.
In early February, BioScrip announced a $225 million deal to sell its community specialty pharmacy and centralized specialty and mail service pharmacy businesses to Walgreen Co. With the transaction, slated to close by late April, Walgreens will get BioScrip’s national community specialty pharmacy network of 30 pharmacy locations in 16 states and the District of Columbia, primarily serving HIV, oncology and transplant patients.
Walgreens also will pick up the prescription drug business of drugstore.com, which the Deerfield, Ill.-based chain acquired last June. BioScrip had acquired the drugstore.com pharmacy business in July 2010 and was under a five-year pact to continue marketing the drugstore.com pharmacy.
"We are pleased with our fourth-quarter results, driven by solid organic growth and significant momentum in our key businesses. Infusion revenue was strong on both a sequential and year-over-year basis driven by the depth of our managed care contracts, growing patient census, and the focused and productive efforts of our sales team and regional management who continue to focus on our targeted therapies," BioScrip president and chief executive officer Rick Smith said in a statement.
"With the pending sale of our community specialty pharmacies and centralized specialty and mail service pharmacy businesses, we are positioning BioScrip as a leaner company focused on those areas where we have key strengths, in-market awareness and offer distinct competitive advantages," Smith stated. "This includes leveraging our geographic reach, building upon our reputation for clinical excellence, deepening our relationships with national and local managed care customers, and strategically expanding our national infusion service footprint both organically and through tuck-in acquisitions. As we move through 2012, we will continue to take action to further rationalize corporate overhead, improve operating performance and profitability, and maximize overall operating cash flow generation."
On the earnings side, BioScrip reported consolidated adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of $19.8 million, or 4.1% of total revenue, for the fourth quarter, up from $10 million, or 2.2% of revenue, a year earlier. For all of 2011, consolidated adjusted EBITDA came in at $73.5 million, or 4% of sales, up from $49.2 million, or 3% of revenue, in 2010.
Net income for the fourth quarter totaled $6.7 million, or 12 cents per share, versus a net loss of $67.1 million, or $1.25 per share, in the 2010 period. For 2011 overall, net income was $7.9 million, or 14 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $69.1 million, or $1.37 per share, in 2010.
