Cardinal Health

In 1995, Medicine Shoppe International (St. Louis, est. 1970), the country's largest franchise of retail pharmacies, was acquired. The merger represented the first non-distribution acquisition by Cardinal Health.[18]

In 1996, Cardinal Health acquired Pyxis Corporation, a company that developed automated pill dispensers for hospitals, for $867 million.[19]

In a 1997 competition between Cardinal Health and McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health planned to purchase Bergen, to which McKesson responded with a bid to purchase Amerisource. Instead, Amerisource and Bergen merged into AmerisourceBergen.[20] Later that year, Cardinal Health completed the acquisition of Owen Healthcare, the second-largest provider of pharmacy management services in the U.S. at the time.[21]

In 1999, the firm acquired the Chicago-based medical products manufacturer and distributor, Allegiance Healthcare (formerly a division of Baxter Healthcare). Allegiance made surgical drapes, gloves, and gowns, and distributed customized arrangements of medical supplies (called "custom sterile packs" and "procedure-based delivery systems").[22] During 2001, the company spent approximately $30 billion on acquisitions, including Bindley Western Industries, wholesale distributor of pharmaceuticals based in Indianapolis.[18]

In April 2006, Cardinal Health purchased Niagara Falls-based ParMed Pharmaceuticals for $40.1 million. ParMed's focus of selling medicine in smaller quantities complements Cardinal Health's distribution to bigger hospital and drug store chains. In June 2007, the firm announced the completion of a tender offer for VIASYS Healthcare.[23]

In June 2010, Cardinal Health announced plans to expand its presence in specialty pharmaceutical services with an agreement to purchase Healthcare Solutions Holding for $517 million.[24] In December 2010, the company acquired Kinray, one of the last independent pharmaceutical wholesalers in the United States, increasing Cardinal Health's presence in the independent pharmacy market by 40 percent.[25] Kinray had annual revenue of over $3.5 billion, and served about 2,000 independent retail pharmacy customers.[25] From 2010 to 2014, Cardinal Health acquired 18 companies including Yong Yu, a Chinese drug distributor. Cardinal Health teamed up with CVS to form Red Oak Sourcing, the largest generic drug sourcing operation in the United States, in July 2014, when the companies started buying generic drugs around the world to sell in U.S. markets.[4]

In March 2015, Cardinal Health signed an agreement to acquire Johnson & Johnson's Cordis (medical) division, a cardiology and endovascular device manufacturer, for $1.94 billion. Cordis' largest market is in the United States, but the manufacturer employs approximately 3,000 people around the world and 70 percent of its sales are international.[26][27] The acquisition was completed on October 4, 2015.[28]

In March 2015, Cardinal Health signed an agreement to acquire Tradex International, a Cleveland-based distributor of latex and other gloves used primarily in the health care and food service industries.[29]

In April 2017, Cardinal Health announced the plan to acquire leading patient product portfolio from Medtronic for $6.1 billion.[30] The acquisition was completed on July 30, 2017. The acquisition was funded with a combination of $4.5 billion in new senior unsecured notes, existing cash and borrowings under its existing credit arrangements.[31]

In September 2004, Cardinal Health announced to restate past results for fiscal 2001, 2002, 2003, and the first three quarters of 2004 downward, after an accounting review and an ongoing federal investigation. In 2005, in connection with the Audit Committee's conclusions reached in September and October 2004, the company made certain reclassification and restatement adjustments to its fiscal 2004 and prior historical consolidated financial statements.[35] According to the Wall Street Journal, "Analysts called the restatement decision troubling, yet limited in scope."[36]

In August 2006, Cardinal Health ceased production of its Alaris SE infusion pump after approximately 1300 units were seized by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).[37] In February 2007, Cardinal Health signed a consent decree with the FDA which promised procedures to guarantee the safety of the Alaris SE.[12] After FDA inspections, Cardinal Health entered into a further consent agreement with the FDA in 2009.[12]

In 2008, Cardinal Health agreed to pay $34 million in civil penalties to settle DEA allegations that it failed to report suspicious orders of hydrocodone. The fine followed a 10-month DEA suspension of a Lakeland, Florida distribution facility and two others in New Jersey and Washington.[38] On February 2, 2012, the Drug Enforcement Administration again suspended the license of the firm's Lakeland distribution center to distribute controlled substances on charges that it had allowed four Florida pharmacies to purchase excessive amounts of controlled substances, in particular oxycodone.[39]

Cardinal Health obtained a restraining order against the suspension, but the suspension was upheld on February 29 by a Federal district court because the court agreed with the DEA that Cardinal Health's activities represented an "imminent danger to the public."[40] The company stated that it blocked two of the pharmacies, (Brooks Pharmacy in Bonita Springs, Florida, and Gulf Coast Medical in Panama City, Florida), and notified the corporate owners of the two pharmacies that were part of national chains, two CVS stores in Sanford, Florida.[39]

In February 2012, Joseph Rannazzisi, chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Office of Diversion Control, issued immediate suspension orders against Cardinal's supply of oxycodone to suspected pill mills.[41] Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole then called Rannazzisi to a meeting at Justice Department headquarters where Cole warned him “it made good sense to listen to what Cardinal had to say”.[41] Rannazzisi was fired from the drug diversion office in August 2015.[41] Cardinal was fined $44 million.[42]

Cardinal, alongside McKesson Corporation, and AmerisourceBergen, spent $13 million lobbying Congress to pass Congressman Tom Marino's "Ensuring Patient Access and Effective Drug Enforcement Act".[41] The bill, which increases the burden of proof enforcers need to show against drug distributors, was signed into law by President Barack Obama in April 2016.[43]

In May 2020, Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter sued Cardinal Health in Bryan County District Court, Oklahoma. The lawsuit alleged that he company's actions helped fuel Oklahoma's opioid crisis. The suit was filed along with lawsuits against AmerisourceBergen and McKesson, and the three lawsuits allege that the three companies provided "enough opioids to Bryan County that every adult resident there could have had 144 hydrocodone tablets."[44]