Armada Health Care Hosts 4th Annual Specialty Pharmacy Summit Las Vegas NV. March 57 2008

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Armada Health Care Hosts 4th Annual Specialty Pharmacy Summit - Las Vegas, NV., March 5-7, 2008

Armada Health Care recently hosted more than 500 industry representatives at their 4th Annual Specialty Pharmacy Summit held at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. This event has become the premier national venue for the specialty pharmacy industry. Attendees included specialty pharmacy owners/operators along with representatives from key specialty pharmaceutical manufacturers and national drug wholesalers.

Short Hills, NJ March 25, 2008 -- Armada Health Care recently hosted more than 500 industry representatives at their 4th Annual Specialty Pharmacy Summit held at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. This event has become the premier national venue for the specialty pharmacy industry. Attendees included specialty pharmacy owners/operators along with representatives from key specialty pharmaceutical manufacturers and national drug wholesalers.

The theme of this year's summit was "Specialty Pharmacy -The Future is Now". In recognition of the aligned interests that exist between specialty pharmacies and the manufacturing community, the Summit featured two keynote speakers. Mr. Steven Stefano, Senior Vice President of Managed Markets and Neuro Health with GlaxoSmithKline delivered the Manufacturer Keynote Address. Stefano's presentation entitled, "Leading Through Values," focused on leadership values in the pharmaceutical industry with special focus on the unique attributes of the specialty pharmacy channel.

The Specialty Pharmacy industry keynote was presented by Rebecca M. Shanahan, former President of OTN Specialty and prior senior executive at Aetna Specialty Pharmacy and Priority Healthcare. Over the past decade, Shanahan has been at the center of the emergent SP industry firmly establishing her credentials as a knowledge and thought leader for the industry. As a nationally recognized figure in the specialty pharmacy segment, her insightful "State of the Specialty Pharmacy Industry" presentation identified areas of opportunity and impending challenges for the attendees.

Additionally, speaker panels and topical sessions allowed the attendees to gain new perspectives into the industry that they represent. Specialty pharmacy remains the single largest area of healthcare cost inflation. These medications have trended upward at more than 25% annually for the past five years and industry experts forecast increases of 25% annually through the rest of this decade. This summit joins the manufacturers of these injectable, infusible and high-cost oral therapies together with their counterpart specialty pharmacy owners and executives to identify ways to bring better value to the marketplace.

Lawrence Irene, CEO of Armada Health Care, stated, "In 2007 we made significant progress on our strategic plan to advance the cause of Specialty Pharmacy and carving out a specialty pharmacy class of trade. Over that time we finalized an initiative to define specialty pharmacy , which we saw as an essential step in differentiating these vendors and their value proposition. Manufacturers are listening and are embracing the concept. The exceptional showing of manufacturers at this year's Summit is clearly a testament to that progress. As an advocate for this channel, we at Armada believe that this Summit will help to further establish this unique market along with representing a clear voice for Specialty Pharmacy."

Armada is the nation's only group purchasing organization (GPO) dedicated exclusively to the Specialty Pharmacy segment. Key statistics include;

- $10 billion in member sales in 2007

- More than 500 corporate members consisting of thousands of dispensing sites nationally

- The only GPO to date to have successfully contracted with manufacturers under a "Specialty Pharmacy Class of Trade"

- A national network of specialty pharmacies providing access to every specialty product -- including limited distribution.

For further information contact:

Chris Benz

Director of Marketing

Armada Health Care

(973) 564-8004

Armada Health Care Hosts 4th Annual Specialty Pharmacy Summit Las Vegas NV. March 57 2008

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Armada Health Care Hosts 4th Annual Specialty Pharmacy Summit Las Vegas NV. March 57 2008

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