SC TO-T/A

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

SCHEDULE TO

(Rule 14d-100)

TENDER OFFER STATEMENT

UNDER

SECTION 14(d)(1) OR SECTION 13(e)(1)

OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

AMENDMENT NO. 17

NeighborCare, Inc.

(Name of Subject Company (Issuer))

Omnicare, Inc.

Nectarine Acquisition Corp.

(Names of Filing Persons (Offerors))

Common Stock, par value $0.02 per share

(Including the Associated Preferred Stock Purchase Rights)

(Title of Class of Securities)

64015Y104

(CUSIP Number of Common Stock)

Joel F. Gemunder

President and Chief Executive Officer

Omnicare, Inc.

100 East RiverCenter Boulevard

Covington, Kentucky 41011

(859) 392-3300

(Name, Address and Telephone Number of Person Authorized to Receive Notices and

Communications on Behalf of Filing Persons)

Copies to:

Morton A. Pierce, Esq.

Michael J. Aiello, Esq.

Dewey Ballantine LLP

1301 Avenue of the Americas

New York, New York 10019

(212) 259-8000

CALCULATION OF FILING FEE

Transaction Valuation*	Amount of Filing Fee
$1,386,439,110	$175,662

* Estimated for purposes of calculating the amount of the filing fee only. This amount assumes the purchase of (i) 43,672,753 shares of the common stock, par value $0.02, including the associated preferred stock purchase rights, of NeighborCare, Inc. (“Shares”), representing all of the outstanding Shares as of May 11, 2004 (less 100 Shares owned by Omnicare, Inc.), (ii) 259,980 Shares to be issued in connection with NeighborCare’s joint plan of reorganization confirmed by the Bankruptcy Court on September 20, 2001 and (iii) 2,281,904 Shares reserved for issuance upon the exercise of outstanding options to purchase Shares. The number of outstanding shares and shares reserved for issuance in connection with NeighborCare’s joint plan of reorganization is contained in the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed by NeighborCare on May 14, 2004. The number of outstanding shares reserved for issuance upon the exercise of options is as disclosed in the transcript of NeighborCare, Inc.’s Second Quarter 2004 earnings conference call on May 13, 2004.

x Check box if any part of the fee is offset as provided by Rule 0-11(a)(2) and identify the filing with which the offsetting fee was previously paid. Identify the previous filing by registration statement number, or the Form or Schedule and the date of its filing.

Amount Previously Paid: $175,662	Filing party: Omnicare, Inc.
Form or Registration No.: SC TO	Date Filed: June 4, 2004

¨ Check the box if the filing relates solely to preliminary communications made before the commencement of a tender offer.

Check the appropriate boxes below to designate any transactions to which the statement relates:

x third-party tender offer subject to Rule 14d-1

¨ issuer tender offer subject to Rule 13e-4

¨ going private transaction subject to Rule 13e-3

¨ amendment to Schedule 13D under Rule 13d-2

Check the following box if the filing is a final amendment reporting the results of the tender offer  ¨

This Amendment No. 17 amends and supplements the Tender Offer Statement on Schedule TO filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“the Commission”) on June 4, 2004 (the “Schedule TO”) by Omnicare, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Omnicare”), and Nectarine Acquisition Corp., a Delaware corporation (“Purchaser”) and a wholly owned subsidiary of Omnicare. The Schedule TO relates to a tender offer by Purchaser to purchase all of the outstanding shares of common stock, par value $0.02 per share, including the associated preferred stock purchase rights, of NeighborCare, Inc. (the “Company”) for a purchase price of $30.00 per share, net to the seller in cash, without interest thereon, upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the Offer to Purchase, dated June 4, 2004 (the “Offer to Purchase”), and in the related Letter of Transmittal (the “Letter of Transmittal” which, together with the Offer to Purchase, as hereby or hereafter amended or supplemented from time to time, constitute the “Offer”). Copies of the Offer to Purchase and the related Letter of Transmittal are filed with the Schedule TO as Exhibits (a)(1)(A) and (a)(1)(B), respectively. Capitalized terms used and not defined herein shall have meanings assigned such terms in the Offer to Purchase and the Schedule TO.

Item 4. Terms of the Transaction.

On January 7, 2005, Omnicare extended the Offer until 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on February 4, 2005, unless further extended. The full text of a press release issued by Omnicare announcing the extension of the Offer is filed as Exhibit (a)(1)(Y) hereto and is incorporated herein by reference.

Item 12. Exhibits.

Item 12 is hereby amended and supplemented with the following information:

Exhibit (a)(1)(Y) Press release issued by Omnicare, Inc. on January 7, 2005.

SIGNATURE

After due inquiry and to the best of my knowledge and belief, I certify that the information set forth in this statement is true, complete and correct.

Dated: January 7, 2005

OMNICARE, INC.
By:	/s/    Cheryl D. Hodges
Name:	Cheryl D. Hodges
Title:	Senior Vice President and Secretary

NECTARINE ACQUISITION CORP.
By:	/s/    Cheryl D. Hodges
Name:	Cheryl D. Hodges
Title:	Secretary

EXHIBIT INDEX

(a	)(1)(A)	Offer to Purchase dated June 4, 2004.*
(a	)(1)(B)	Letter of Transmittal.*
(a	)(1)(C)	Notice of Guaranteed Delivery.*
(a	)(1)(D)	Letter to Brokers, Dealers, Commercial Banks, Trust Companies and Other Nominees.*
(a	)(1)(E)	Letter to Clients for use by Brokers, Dealers, Commercial Banks, Trust Companies and Other Nominees.*
(a	)(1)(F)	Guidelines for Certification of Taxpayer Identification Number on Substitute Form W-9.*
(a	)(1)(G)	Summary Advertisement, published June 4, 2004.*
(a	)(1)(H)	Press release issued by Omnicare on June 4, 2004.*
(a	)(1)(I)	Selected material from a presentation of Omnicare, Inc. at the Goldman Sachs Healthcare Conference on June 9, 2004 at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, Dana Point, California.*
(a	)(1)(J)	Press release issued by Omnicare, Inc. on June 14, 2004.*
(a	)(1)(K)	Press release issued by Omnicare, Inc. on June 15, 2004.*
(a	)(1)(L)	Selected material from a presentation of Omnicare, Inc. at the Jeffries & Company, Inc. Specialty and Post-Acute Services Conference on June 15, 2004 at the St. Regis Hotel, New York, New York.*
(a	)(1)(M)	Press release issued by Omnicare, Inc. on June 25, 2004.*
(a	)(1)(N)	Press release issued by Omnicare, Inc. on July 13, 2004.*
(a	)(1)(O)	Press release issued by Omnicare, Inc. on July 26, 2004.*
(a	)(1)(P)	Excerpts from the Transcript of Omnicare, Inc.’s Second Quarter 2004 Conference Call, dated July 26, 2004.*
(a	)(1)(Q)	Press release issued by Omnicare, Inc. on July 30, 2004.*
(a	)(1)(R)	Selected material from a presentation of Omnicare, Inc. at the Omnicare, Inc. Management Conference on August 14, 2004.*
(a	)(1)(S)	Press release issued by Omnicare, Inc. on September 1, 2004.*
(a	)(1)(T)	Press release issued by Omnicare, Inc. on October 1, 2004.*
(a	)(1)(U)	Press release issued by Omnicare, Inc. on November 1, 2004.*
(a	)(1)(V)	Excerpt from the Transcript of Omnicare, Inc.’s Third Quarter 2004 Conference Call, dated October 28, 2004.*
(a	)(1)(W)	Press release issued by Omnicare, Inc. on December 1, 2004.*
(a	)(1)(X)	Press release issued by Omnicare, Inc. on December 23, 2004.*
(a	)(1)(Y)	Press release issued by Omnicare, Inc. on January 7, 2005.
(b	)	Commitment Letter Agreement among JPMorgan Chase Bank, J.P. Morgan Securities Inc., Lehman Commercial Paper Inc., Lehman Brothers Inc., SunTrust Bank, SunTrust Capital Markets, Inc., Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, CIBC World Markets Corp., Merrill Lynch Bank USA, Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and Omnicare Inc., dated June 3, 2004.*
(d	)	None.
(g	)	None.
(h	)	None.

* previously filed

EX-99.1

Exhibit (a)(1)(Y)

Omnicare, Inc. · 100 East RiverCenter Boulevard · Covington, Kentucky 41011 · 859/392-3300 · 859/392-3360 Fax

Omnicare news release

OMNICARE EXTENDS TENDER OFFER FOR NEIGHBORCARE

UNTIL FEBRUARY 4, 2005

COVINGTON, Ky., January 7, 2005 - Omnicare, Inc. (NYSE: OCR) today announced that it has extended its offer for all of the outstanding shares of NeighborCare, Inc. (NASDAQ: NCRX) common stock for $30.00 per share in cash. The offer, which was to have expired on Friday, January 7, 2005 at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, has been extended until 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on February 4, 2005, unless further extended.

As of the close of business on January 7, 2005, a total of 15,676,855 shares of NeighborCare common stock had been tendered. This represents approximately 35.5% of NeighborCare’s outstanding shares (or approximately 34.6% of NeighborCare’s outstanding shares, calculated on a fully diluted basis).

As previously announced, Omnicare commenced a tender offer on June 4, 2004 for all of the outstanding shares of NeighborCare common stock for $30 per share in cash. This price represents a 70% premium over NeighborCare’s closing stock price on May 21, the last day of trading before the offer was made public on May 24. It is also a 40% premium over the 30-day trading average prior to the announcement of the offer, a 30% premium to Wall Street’s median price target for NeighborCare’s stock over the next 12 months¹ and $4.00 more than NeighborCare’s previous all-time high.

Dewey Ballantine LLP is acting as legal counsel to Omnicare and Lehman Brothers and Lazard are acting as financial advisors. Innisfree M&A Incorporated is acting as information agent for Omnicare’s offer.

About Omnicare, Inc.

Omnicare, Inc. (NYSE:OCR), a Fortune 500 company based in Covington, Kentucky, is a leading provider of pharmaceutical care for the elderly. Omnicare serves residents in long-term care facilities comprising approximately 1,071,000 beds in 47 states, making it the nation’s largest provider of professional pharmacy, related consulting and data management services for skilled nursing, assisted living and other institutional healthcare providers. Omnicare also provides clinical research services for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries in 30 countries worldwide.

¹ Stock price targets immediately prior to public announcement of Omnicare’s offer.

This press release contains certain statements which are “forward-looking” statements under the federal securities laws and involve risks and uncertainties relating to the occurrence of future events. These statements include, but are not limited to, the impact of the NeighborCare acquisition on Omnicare’s earnings in 2004 and beyond; Omnicare’s ability to build upon its existing operations; geographic expansion opportunities; Omnicare’s ability to leverage services and capabilities among its national network of institutional pharmacies; Omnicare’s ability to successfully integrate this acquisition and achieve synergies; and Omnicare’s strategy in the institutional pharmacy business. Certain factors that could cause actual events not to occur as expressed in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the inability to integrate the NeighborCare acquisition as anticipated; the inability to realize expected revenues, earnings, synergies and other benefits from the NeighborCare acquisition; the performance of Omnicare’s institutional pharmacy business; business conditions in the institutional pharmacy industry generally; the inability to expand geographically as anticipated; the inability to leverage services and capabilities among Omnicare’s network of institutional pharmacies as anticipated; the effectiveness of Omnicare’s strategy in the institutional pharmacy business; and the ability of the NeighborCare acquisition to strengthen relationships with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Omnicare assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking information. Other risks and uncertainties concerning Omnicare’s performance are set forth in reports and documents filed by Omnicare with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. Please use caution in placing reliance on forward-looking statements.

This document is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell securities. The tender offer is being made only through an offer to purchase and related letter of transmittal. Investors and security holders are strongly advised to read the tender offer materials of Omnicare because they contain important information. The tender offer materials have been filed by Omnicare with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Investors and security holders may obtain a free copy of these materials and other relevant documents on the SEC’s web site at: http://www.sec.gov. The tender offer materials and related documents may also be obtained for free by directing such requests to Omnicare at (859) 392-3331.

Contacts:

Cheryl Hodges	Joele Frank / Steve Silva
Omnicare	Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
(859) 392-3331	(212) 355-4449

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