DEERFIELD, Ill. — Walgreen Co. has agreed to acquire BioScrip Inc.’s specialty pharmacies and centralized specialty and mail-service pharmacy businesses.

The $225 million deal includes about $170 million in cash at closing and BioScrip’s retention of associated accounts receivable and working capital liabilities of about $55 million. The deal could also generate as much as $60 million more for BioScrip, depending on whether Walgreens holds onto the businesses it is acquiring.

Walgreens executives said the acquisition, unveiled earlier this month, fits into the company’s strategy to advance community pharmacy and bring additional specialty pharmacy products and services closer to patients. The deal will also help grow Walgreens’ centralized specialty and mail-service pharmacy operations, they noted.

“Together, BioScrip’s clinically focused community specialty pharmacies and access to additional limited-distribution drug therapies, and Walgreens existing nationwide network of retail and health system pharmacies, create a strong network of support for our core drug store business to provide specialty pharmacy solutions to our patients,” Walgreens president and chief executive officer Greg Wasson said.

“Many of our patients will benefit from expanded access to new and limited-distribution drugs for chronic conditions such as HIV, cancer and organ transplant,” Wasson explained. “This acquisition also significantly expands our nationwide reach to an additional half-million patients with chronic and complex health conditions who have strong clinical relationships with their current BioScrip pharmacy.”

For BioScrip, shedding its community pharmacies and mail-order operation will allow it to focus more effort on growing what executives say are its core operations — infusion pharmacy and home health services. BioScrip will also continue to operate pharmacy benefit management and cash card businesses.

“Our specialty pharmacy clinicians have established a respected reputation for high levels of customer service,” BioScrip president and CEO Rick Smith said.

“The recognition of our clinical expertise in complex, chronic programs has resulted in consistent growth of this business,” Smith added. “We believe that Walgreens is an ideal home for BioScrip’s specialty pharmacy and mail businesses, as it has the resources to support a growing customer base.”

BioScrip’s network of community specialty pharmacies includes 30 locations in 16 states across the country and in the District of Columbia. The stores primarily serve HIV, oncology and transplant patients.

In addition to acquiring BioScrip’s retail sites, Walgreens is getting certain assets of BioScrip’s centralized specialty pharmacy business and mail-service pharmacy, which dispenses prescriptions for drugstore.com, acquired by Walgreens last June.

Walgreens said it expects to transfer the servicing of patients for the central specialty pharmacy and mail-service pharmacy businesses to existing Walgreens facilities.
The drug chain expects to fund the acquisition with existing cash and anticipates the deal will close by late April.

Walgreens said it expects the deal to not have a material impact on its earnings per share in fiscal 2012 and to be modestly accretive in fiscal 2013.