Eversana is a pharmaceutical commercialization company, while digital prescription drug company Waltz Health has merged into a $6 billion entity, they announced Tuesday.
Chicago-based Eversana serves over 650 pharmaceutical and biotech companies and helps them bring therapy to market. Its services include distribution of inventory, marketing and advertising to doctors. It also helped Eli Lilly create LillyDirect, a direct-to-consumer platform that allows patients to obtain certain Eli Lilly drugs, including GLP-1 Zepbough.
Waltz Health is also located in Chicago and serves payers, employers and pharmacies. It has a platform called Waltz Connect, which matches patients with the most suitable pharmacies because they have a specialty medication prescribed. It also provides health plan information about membership status, prescriptions, pharmacy contact information and more.
The merger will bring together the capabilities of these companies under the Eversana name. The terms of the transaction are not disclosed.
The merged company will continue to sell Waltz Connect and build its pharmacy network. Meanwhile, Eversana will create a new model that connects pharmaceutical companies directly to payers and patients similar to LillyDirect. This model will bring the payer into a funded benefit plan.
The two companies aim to address the high cost of prescription drugs through mergers, especially specialty drugs such as GLP-1 and oncology therapy. These are very expensive, said Mark Thierer, co-founder and CEO of Waltz Health.
“Our model is actually connecting with the pharmaceutical industry, and we want to create a business model with less wear and reduced speed to make these therapies incorporate these therapies into the hands of patients,” Thierer said. “We are creating a better membership experience. … We run with the current model. We don't want to blow it up, nor do we put it in any way.”
Thierer will serve as CEO of the merger. Prior to joining Waltz Health, he was the CEO of the UnitedHealth Group's $13 billion acquisition of catamarans.
Jim Lang, former CEO of Eversana, will serve on the board.
Thierer has also been Eversana’s chairman for the past eight years, which has given him a “front seat” in the company.
“The concept of trying to try to bridge pharmaceutical companies with payers is something no one does, and over time it can be a good choice. … We started working together on single, independent initiatives a long time ago, and as we progress, we have become increasingly clearer and clearer in these organizations, both those between those organizations and those between one competitor and one competitor are suitable for competition.”
Photo: stas_v, Getty Images
