AmerisourceBergen Corporation's PharMerica Long-Term Care (LTC) unit announced that it has reached agreement with CERES Strategies, Inc., the affiliated healthcare procurement company for Beverly Enterprises, Inc. and Golden Gate National Senior Care LLC, on a contract to provide Beverly and Golden Gate with institutional pharmacy services for the skilled-nursing and long-term care facilities operated by subsidiaries of those companies. CERES Strategies, Inc. a part of Ceres Purchasing Solutions, provides procurement services for Beverly, Golden Gate and their subsidiaries.

The contract is effective immediately and continues until March 31, 2009 with provisions to extend the length of the contract. Terms of the contract were not disclosed. As part of the agreement, AmerisourceBergen will drop its lawsuit against Beverly and Golden Gate, which asked the court to enforce a previous contract.

"We have had a long and beneficial relationship with Beverly and are pleased that we will continue to provide pharmacy services to the patients under the care of Beverly and Golden Gate," said William G. Shields, PharMerica LTC's President. "As our largest customer group, Beverly and Golden Gate provide a firm foundation for our national reach in institutional pharmacy services."

"We are glad that Beverly is continuing its long-term relationship with PharMerica and that PharMerica will have an opportunity to expand upon that relationship as a result of the new contract," said Randy Churchey, President and CEO of GGNSC Holdings LLC, parent company of Golden Gate National Senior Care LLC. "We believe that PharMerica, Beverly and Golden Gate can build on this strong relationship to further improve pharmacy efficiency and provide quality patient care."