AmeriSource Signs Major New Accounts Totaling More Than $450 Million in New Revenue; Company Adds A Balance of Retail and Institutional Customers.

Business Editors/Health & Banking Writers

VALLEY FORGE, Pa.--(BW HealthWire)--Jan. 31, 2001

AmeriSource Health Corporation (NYSE:AAS), a leading distributor of pharmaceutical and related healthcare services, today announced that in the last three months it has signed major new customer agreements totaling more than $450 million in annualized revenue.

The new revenue, which is incremental to previous new revenue announcements, is divided about equally between the Company's institutional business, made up of the Health Systems and Alternate Site customer groups, and its retail business, which includes Chain Drugstores and Independent Community Pharmacies.

"We are very pleased that these new customers have put their trust in AmeriSource, and we are committed to providing our well-known, personalized service," said R. David Yost, AmeriSource Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "These revenue gains, which are being incorporated primarily during the March and June quarters of this year, demonstrate our ability to add major new business, while we continue to grow current customers' revenues and the number of smaller accounts.

"This new business, representing both retail and institutional customers, reflects our balanced approach to the marketplace, and it illustrates our success in profitably penetrating newer geography and pharmacy sectors with our locally focused approach to customer service."

Additions in retail include an agreement to service a growing portion of familymeds Group, Inc., a national drugstore chain, and new business with Horizon Pharmacies, Inc., another national drugstore chain. In the West, where the Company is expanding its business, it recently signed Medicine Man Inc., a regional drugstore chain based in Idaho.

Commented Yost, "These chains, which do not have their own warehousing operations for pharmaceuticals, represent an opportunity for us to provide added services and solutions to improve their businesses, and we will continue to focus on these kinds of chain customers."

Among the new institutional accounts, AmeriSource added the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the state's 140-facility correctional system. As AmeriSource's first account in the corrections sector of the Alternate Site marketplace, the Texas corrections system opens new opportunities among correctional pharmacy systems.

The recent signing of the University of Massachusetts Medical Center leads the Company's numerous new Health Systems accounts and is an example of an increasing penetration into newer geographies from its more recent distribution center additions in New England and California. In California, AmeriSource recently won several new hospital accounts in the Los Angeles area. About AmeriSource

AmeriSource Health Corporation, with more than $12 billion in annualized operating revenue, is a leading distributor of pharmaceutical and related healthcare products and services, and the industry's largest provider of pharmaceuticals to the acute care/health systems market. Headquartered in Valley Forge, PA, the Company serves its base of about 15,000 customer accounts through a national network of more than 20 strategically located distribution facilities. For news and additional information about the company, visit its web site at www.amerisource.com

Certain information contained in this press release includes forward-looking statements (as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act) that reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events and financial performance. Certain factors such as competitive pressures, success of restructuring and system initiatives, market interest rates, regulatory changes, continued industry consolidation, changes in customer mix, changes in pharmaceutical manufacturers' pricing and distribution policies, the loss of one or more key customer or supplier relationships and other matters contained in the Company's 10-K for fiscal year 2000 and other public documents could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The company assumes no obligation to update the matters discussed in this press release.