Dublin-based United Drug has completed its first acquisition in the United States by agreeing to pay up to $10.5 million for Alliance Healthcare Information in Pennsylvania.
Alliance employs 163 staff and operates a call centre for pharmaceutical and healthcare companies that is staffed by registered nurses and pharmacists.
It is also involved in the recruitment of patients for clinical trials on behalf of manufacturers.
Founded in 1995, Alliance has annual revenues of about €12 million. Founder and chief executive Jack Thorne and president and chief operating officer Mary Anne Greenberg will both remain with the company.
United Drug will pay $9.5 million in cash for the business and an additional $1 million if certain targets are met over the next 12 months.
United Drug chief executive Liam Fitzgerald said Alliance would complement the Irish company's existing 50-strong contract sales team in the US.
"This is good launching pad for our ambitions into the United States," Mr Fitzgerald said. "Up to now, we have operated under the radar [in the US]."
Separately, Mr Fitzgerald confirmed that United Drug's wholesaling business in the Republic is threatened under plans by the HSE to cut payments to pharmaceutical wholesalers next year.
He said the company could be forced to close two of its three wholesale depots, affecting about 200 jobs. United Drug's wholesale division here accounts for about 25 per cent of its group profits.
"These actions will put a lot of pharmacies out of business, which is a threat to our business," Mr Fitzgerald said. He accused the Government and the HSE of pursuing "a blindly-led procurement agenda".
