Medco Announces Agreement to Acquire Diabetes Care Leader PolyMedica in Transaction Valued at $1...( -- Strategic Acquisition Creates Prem...)

-- Strategic Acquisition Creates Premier Provider of Diabetes Care Services

With 3.8 Million Patients Under Treatment -- Diabetes Patients Represent 5 Percent of Population; 15 Percent of Drug

Spending -- Transaction Expected to be Slightly Accretive to Medco Shareholders in

2008

FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J. and WAKEFIELD, Mass., Aug. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Medco Health Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MHS), and PolyMedica Corporation (Nasdaq: PLMD) today announced a definitive agreement under which Medco will acquire PolyMedica in an all-cash transaction valued at $53 per share, or $1.5 billion. The combination of America's leading advanced pharmacy practice with the leading source for diabetes services and supplies creates the nation's premier provider of comprehensive diabetes care and treatment.

An estimated 17 million Americans are currently treated for diabetes, with more than 1 million patients diagnosed each year; an additional 7 million are estimated as undiagnosed. Diabetes care represents one of the fastest-growing segments of health care in a market estimated at more than $25 billion a year. These patients represent 5 percent of the population but account for more than 15 percent of total drug spending - creating an imperative for advanced clinical supervision and enlightened drug-trend management. With spending increasing by 14.5 percent annually, diabetes treatments by 2009 are expec
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