Bergen Brunswig and Sentara Healthcare Partner to Create E-commerce Order and Distribution Program for Physicians.

Business Editors/Health and Medical Writers

ORANGE, Calif. and NORFOLK, Va.--(BW HealthWire)--Nov. 9, 2000

Bergen Brunswig Drug Company (BBDC), a subsidiary of Bergen Brunswig Corporation (NYSE:BBC), and Sentara Healthcare, an integrated not-for-profit health services organization serving more than two million residents in Virginia and North Carolina, today announced an agreement to partner in the creation of DOCxdirect, an e-commerce medical supply/distribution solution designed to... save community physicians approximately 15-20 percent on the cost of obtaining medical supplies for their practices.

Through this unique partnership, which leverages Sentara's purchasing power with e-procurement applications provided by Bergen's Choice IntelliOrder(TM) system and fulfillment provided by Bergen's Besse Medical Supply subsidiary, DOCxdirect will provide more than 1,000 competitively priced pharmaceutical and medical-surgical products from nationally recognized manufacturers to physicians who have established a clinical relationship with Sentara.

"We are excited to partner with Sentara in the creation of the DOCxdirect program, one of the first of its kind in the nation and one which will serve as a model for others in the industry to follow," said Doug Swanson, president, health systems division, Bergen Brunswig Drug Company."

Sentara, which operates six hospitals with a total of 1,832 beds, will act as a contract pricing manager, program facilitator and website designer for the program.

Besse Medical will provide low unit of measure distribution expertise with guaranteed timely shipment of products airfreighted to physicians from Besse's Cincinnati, Ohio location.

The Intelliorder system, an electronic ordering mechanism, allows physicians to order products conveniently on-line from a specific product catalog and receive instant order confirmation, electronic invoices as well as customized inventory management tools and purchase summaries.

"We are pleased to join with Bergen Brunswig in creating an initiative which coincides with our not-for-profit mission as well as the goals of physicians who work closely with Sentara," said Carl Manley, vice president of Sentara's materials management division. "This program will significantly reduce physicians' medical supply costs and enable us to improve on the delivery of cost-effective, high quality patient care."

The Bergen-Sentara agreement also extends a prime vendor relationship under which Bergen will continue to supply approximately $40 million per year in pharmaceuticals to Sentara over the next three years.

Sentara Healthcare is a nationally recognized leader in the health care industry, named one of the Top Ten Integrated Health Care Networks in the United States by SMG Marketing Group. Sentara features more than 70 care-giving sites including six hospitals, two outpatient health care campuses, seven nursing centers, three assisted living facilities and over 38 primary care practices, a full range of health coverage plans, home health and hospice services, urgent care facilities, ground medical transport services, mobile diagnostic vans, and two health and fitness facilities. Sentara also provides the region's only air ambulance and organ transplant program. For more information, visit www.sentara.com.

Bergen Brunswig Corporation, headquartered in Orange County, California, is a leading supplier of pharmaceuticals 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 and 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. Bergen Brunswig press releases are available on the company's website at www.bergenbrunswig.com.

Except for historical information, all other information set forth in this press release, such as earnings forecasts and earnings rate projections, consists of "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These "forward-looking statements" 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," "believe," "think, "continue" or the negatives or other variations thereof or other similar terminology. Such risks and uncertainties include the risks described in exhibit 99(a) to the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended September 30, 1999 and in other reports and exhibits filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the costs and difficulties related to the integration of acquired businesses, the loss or disruption of one or more key customer or supplier relationships, changes in the distribution outsourcing pattern for pharmaceutical products and/or services, the ability to obtain general financing or financing rates that would be compatible with the Company's business operations, and the costs and other effects of governmental regulation and legal and administrative proceedings. The Company assumes no obligation to update the information in the release.