LAKE MARY, Fla.--Priority Healthcare has announced it will buy Louisville, Ky.-based SpectraCare's $32-million infusion business and its medical management component, Care Continuum, which provides network management on an administrative fee-for-services basis for managed care organizations. The acquisition will not include SpectraCare's home health operations.

According to Priority President and CEO Steve Cosler, the SpectraCare operation will be integrated into Priority's existing Integrity Healthcare Services specialty infusion business, which has 29 branches in 18 states. "This acquisition leverages current opportunities while also continuing to position us well for the significant number of new drugs in the biotech pipeline requiring infusion support," Cosler said.

Since 1988, SpectraCare has grown from a single location in Louisville to six pharmacies in four states. The companies have been operating in the same markets for 10 years, added Francis "Chip" McNamara, Priority's senior vice president and general manager of Integrity Healthcare, and the acquisition "will allow us to increase our capacity with improved operating efficiency."

Integrity Healthcare provides programs across a number of disease states and conditions including cancer, growth and nutrition deficiency, infections, neurological disorders and respiratory and cardiac conditions. Priority Healthcare, a national specialty pharmacy and distributor that generated more than $1 billion in 2004 revenues, provides biopharmaceuticals, complex therapies and related disease treatment programs for a variety of health care settings.