Sample Management Services Acquisition Aimed at Making Prescriptions Affordable
By Eli Walsh, San Diego Business Journal
Medvantx expanded its product offerings this month following the pharmacy services company’s acquisition of the pharmaceutical sample distributor RxS.
While Medvantx operates one of the largest independent, non-commercial dispensing pharmacies in the country, the company had yet to provide services like distributing prescription drug samples to physicians’ offices or replacing them when providers run out.
According to Medvantx CEO Prasanna Parthasarathy, the company began receiving requests from its existing customers to add the capability to provide samples and sought an acquisition target to achieve that end.
“We were initially looking at building it ourselves organically because it’ll be much more integrated, and we want to make sure that we have a full suite of platform offering that is scalable,” he said. “And that’s when we also came to know about RxS in the marketplace and we really liked their enterprise-class product.”
Parthasarathy added that the acquisition of a company like RxS, which has operated as a sample provider and distributor for more than a decade, gave Medvantx instant credibility in the sampling business.
In addition to providing samples to health care providers, the acquisition is expected to help support existing Medvantx programs such as fulfilling assistance programs on behalf of pharmaceutical companies for patients who may not be able to afford name brand prescription drugs.
With compliance and logistical requirements varying wildly across the drugs, medical devices and other health care products that Medvantx distributes, the addition of sampling services also gives pharmaceutical manufacturers and health care providers access to more services under one roof and enables them to rely on fewer trusted vendors.
“It just opens up a lot more addressable market for us to go after in the sampling space, and also a broader opportunity for us to serve out B2B customers by creating more value as a partner,” Parthasarathy said. “And that’s a thing that a lot of our customers are looking for is fewer meaningful vendors as partners that can provide a scalable offering to them, and that’s what this enables us to do.”
‘Highly Purpose-Driven Organization’
Medvantx was founded in 2000 and provides pharmaceutical medications across the country in an effort to help patients access needed medications even if they’re unable to afford them at market rates.
A 2025 study from Gallup and West Health found that 11% of U.S. adults – roughly 29 million people – were unable to afford or access necessary health care and prescribed medicine.
That percentage represented a three-point increase since 2021, particularly among Black and Hispanic adults as well as households earning less than $24,000 per year.
“At the end of the day, we are a highly purpose-driven organization,” Parthasarathy said.
“We really take the opportunity of serving millions of Americans with much-needed therapies and drugs to put them back to healthier living, and we are grateful to have this opportunity to do good and do well.”
In addition to supporting patients, Parthasarathy said Medvantx has grown fairly rapidly over the past three years since he joined the company, adding tens of millions of dollars to Medvantx’s overall value.
“We’re able to provide state-of-the-art, safe, scalable medication delivery options for pharma manufacturers that sets us apart, as well as provide a lot of options for patients and providers that we attempt to serve,” he said.
Mark Jara, RxS’ co-founder and chief technology officer, echoed that the combined company will provide increased scalability in connecting health care providers and their patients to affordable drug and treatment options.
“As part of Medvantx, we will give our clients access to a broader range of direct-to-patient channels, enabling them to offer numerous avenues from prescriber to patients,” Jara stated.
As part of the acquisition, Jara will join Medvantx as the senior vice president for the company’s samples platform and will oversee the integration of the two companies as well as continued support for the RxS customers that are being assimilated into Medvantx’s customer base.
According to Parthasarathy, Medvantx plans to integrate and build on the strengths of RxS’ incoming staff to leverage its existing knowledge about the regulated sample market.
“The RxS acquisition basically enables us to seamlessly create another service line in order to continue our journey on improving access for patients and providers to innovative, life-saving drugs,” he said.
