Pharmacy firm buys U spin-off

A pharmacy company based in the state of Washington has acquired St. Louis Park-based Medication Management Systems Inc., a company that was spun out of the University of Minnesota about a decade ago.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. U officials said they don't know yet what the sale will mean financially for the university.

Medication Management Systems provides technology and services to health insurers that want to provide guidance for patients about cost-effective use of prescription drugs. It was based on research by pharmacists at the U on medication therapy management.

"There's a strong belief at [the federal government] and certainly in the payer community that these types of services reduce costs significantly in taking care of these chronically ill patients, and increases their quality of life," said John Figueroa, the chief executive at Genoa, the company that acquired Medication Management Systems.

Genoa operates nearly 370 pharmacies located at community mental health centers across the country including 16 in Minnesota. Genoa employs more than 120 people in the state, and plans to maintain the 80-person workforce at Medication Management Systems.

"We're offering every one of them employment," Figueroa said.

Genoa expects more than $1.4 billion in revenue this year. The company did not release financial information about Medication Management Systems, which currently provides services to more than 30,000 patients at health plans with more than 4 million members.