Bergen Brunswig Announces Agreement With the PROMINA Health System; Exclusive Three Year Agreement Reinforces Bergen's Service Leadership Among Novation Members.

ORANGE, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Nov. 18, 1999--

Bergen Brunswig Drug Company (BBDC), the largest subsidiary of Bergen Brunswig Corporation (NYSE: BBC), today announced a new three-year exclusive distribution agreement with one of the nation's leading integrated healthcare delivery networks - the PROMINA Health System.

Under terms of the agreement, BBDC will provide pharmaceutical products and clinical consulting services to PROMINA's 14 hospitals and 53 alternate care locations. PROMINA, also one of the largest and most prestigious members of the Novation group purchasing organization, is expected to direct approximately $150 million in purchases to Bergen over the life of the contract, of which approximately 20% is incremental new revenue for Bergen.

Doug Swanson, president, health systems for Bergen Brunswig Drug Company, said, "We are excited that PROMINA has selected Bergen to be its partner in preserving the delivery of high quality healthcare while streamlining their procurement process to reduce costs. Through the utilization of Bergen's new RxFocus(TM) clinical consulting program, we will be able to benchmark PROMINA's drug purchasing and medication use systems against their peer group by utilizing Bergen's proprietary clinical database and other national standards."

"Bergen clearly demonstrated its ability to deliver value in supporting PROMINA's efforts to improve efficiency," explained Gary Wright, chairman of the PROMINA Health Systems Pharmacy Director's Council. "What impressed me most was Bergen's willingness for shared-risk contracting with the RxFocus program, in which they will guarantee our organization a 4:1 return on our investment or we don't pay them their fee. That translates to real savings for us. Additionally, many of our facilities have worked with Bergen over the past several years and gave me their vote of confidence regarding Bergen's ability to provide an extremely high level of service. We look forward to a very long-term business partnership."

The PROMINA Health System addresses today's competitive and evolving healthcare environment through the affiliation of five healthcare systems (DeKalb Regional Healthcare System; Gwinnett Health System; WellStar Health System; Piedmont Health System; Southern Regional Health System) and a managed care organization. In addition, each of the systems has a number of satellite facilities ranging from wellness centers to primary and urgent care centers. PROMINA operates over 3,000 licensed beds and employs over 18,000 associates systemwide. For more information visit PROMINA's web site at www.promina.org.

Bergen Brunswig Corporation, headquartered in Orange County, California, is a leading supplier of pharmaceuticals, medical-surgical supplies and specialty healthcare products as well as information management solutions and consulting services. Bergen's customers include the nation's healthcare providers (hospitals, nursing homes, physicians), drug stores, manufacturers and patients. Through its subsidiaries, Bergen provides product distribution; logistics; pharmacy management programs; and Internet fulfillment strategies designed to reduce costs and improve patient outcomes across the entire healthcare spectrum.

Certain of the information set forth in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or implied. Such statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking language such as "may," "will," "should," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate" or "continue" or the negatives or other variations thereof or other similar terminology. Such risks and uncertainties include the risks described in exhibit 99 to the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10Q for the quarter ended June 30, 1999 and in other reports and exhibits filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Bergen Brunswig press releases are available on the company's website at www.bergenbrunswig.com.