NeighborCare Inc., one of the biggest long-term care pharmacies in the United States, has rejected a $32-a-share takeover bid from Omnicare, the largest.

“The revised offer is inadequate and does not provide NeighborCare shareholders with the value they deserve,” NeighborCare said. The latest offer was set to expire at the end of the month.

NeighborCare considered the offer earlier this month after the Federal Trade Commission approved it. Omnicare, of Covington, KY, first made a bid in May of 2004, but that offer got bogged down in a federal antitrust review. It valued NeighborCare for the latest offer at around $1.7 billion.

Because the market has driven up the price of both companies, Omnicare could still purchase NeighborCare for $34 a share, investors speculate. NeighborCare was acquired in 1996 by Genesis Health Ventures Inc., a nursing home chain, but was spun off as a separate Baltimore company on Dec. 1, 2003.