Avicenna has acquired 11 community pharmacies from LPC Pharmaceuticals, bringing the total number it owns to 19.

Most of the new pharmacies are in Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire. Avicenna chief executive Salim Jetha said: “This acquisition is great news for independent pharmacists, a thousand of whom own the company. The economies of scale will enable us to enhance our service offerings and provide a test bed for development of new services and initiatives for the entire membership.”

Following David Gration’s retirement earlier this year, Avicenna appointed Ian Gray as its new chairman in July. Mr Gray is also chairman of Atlantic Productions, and a non-executive director of Kent Messenger and Furniture Village. “I was attracted by the potential of Avicenna and its management team,” he said.