Software-investment firm Thoma Bravo announced July 17 that it has finalized a strategic growth investment in Bluesight, the Medication Intelligence™ company. The investment is set to strengthen Bluesight's drug diversion prevention capabilities, achieved through its acquisition of Medacist.

"We are excited to work with both of these organizations on the next phase of their growth journey," Sam Yules, vice president of the Thoma Bravo Explore team, said in the press release. 

The strategic growth investment in Bluesight will bolster Bluesight's drug diversion prevention capabilities by acquiring Medacist, a pioneer in drug diversion monitoring, while also expanding Bluesight's inventory management and spend optimization offerings. New Leaf Ventures, the existing investor, will maintain its investment in the company, although specific financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

"With increased scale and enhanced capabilities, Bluesight and Medacist will have a differentiated market position within this critically important segment of the healthcare market," Yules said in the press release.

The recent acquisition of Medacist by Bluesight brings together two companies in the vanguard of drug diversion analytics and medication management solutions, the release states, with a joint reach that extends to more than 2,000 hospitals across North America. Bluesight's sophisticated auditing capabilities and comprehensive visibility throughout hospital care areas complement Medacist's efficient reporting and visibility tools across the entire health system, according to the release.

"Technological advancements, including artificial intelligence, are digitizing healthcare and driving demand for software innovations in medication management. Health system pharmacies are looking for solutions that lower costs, increase efficiency, and improve compliance," Kevin MacDonald, co-Founder and CEO of Bluesight, said in the release. "Partnering with Thoma Bravo enables us to increase our investment in Medication Intelligence and serve our health system customers more completely across the drug lifecycle. 

"Joining forces with Medacist allows us to better support healthcare organizations in their effort to identify and prevent acts of drug diversion and creates a leading software platform providing seamless, secure and efficient medication surveillance and predictive analytics solutions," MacDonald said in the release

Medacist President and CEO David Brzozowski Sr. said in the release "More than 25 years ago, we embarked on a mission to revolutionize healthcare with a new approach to identifying and preventing drug diversion. Since its inception, Medacist has been a trailblazer, helping to identify potential cases of drug diversion across thousands of healthcare organizations. Medacist is thrilled to partner with Bluesight and Thoma Bravo to accelerate our impact."

"The combination of Bluesight and Medacist capitalizes on the growing demand for software solutions that transform how health system pharmacies manage medication inventory and compliance," Carl Press, a Partner at Thoma Bravo, said in the press release. 

"In particular, drug diversion costs the healthcare system billions of dollars each year and presents a significant challenge that can only be addressed with deep industry knowledge and advanced technical capabilities, including machine learning," Press said in the release. "We believe the combined company is uniquely positioned to tackle this challenge and others, and we are thrilled to partner with Kevin and team to accelerate innovation and growth at Bluesight."