Cardinal Health

Cardinal Health, Inc., is a Fortune 500 health care services company based in Dublin, Ohio. Cardinal Health specializes in health care supply chain services, providing pharmaceuticals and medical products to more than 40,000 locations each day. The company is also a manufacturer of medical and surgical products, including gloves, surgical apparel and fluid management products. In addition, the company supports the growing diagnostic industry by supplying medical products to clinical laboratories and operating the nation’s largest network of radiopharmacies that dispense products to aid in the early diagnosis and treatment of disease.[2]
[edit]History

Founded in 1971 as Cardinal Foods by Robert D. Walter, it was initially a food wholesaler. Acquiring the Bailey Drug Company in 1979, it began wholesaling drugs as Cardinal Distribution, Incorporated. Following the introduction of the company on the NASDAQ stock exchange in 1983 it commenced on a long string of acquisitions and mergers. It is now traded on the NYSE under symbol (CAH [1]). As of April, 2010, it was ranked 17th on the Fortune 500 list with 2009 annual revenue of over $99 billion.[3] Cardinal employs more than 30,000 people worldwide.
In 1995, Medicine Shoppe International (St. Louis, est. 1970), the country’s largest franchise of retail pharmacies,[4] was acquired. The merger represents the first non-distribution acquisition by Cardinal Health.[5]
In 1997, in competition between Cardinal Health and McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health had planned to purchase Bergen, to which McKesson responded with a bid to purchase Amerisource. Instead, Amerisource and Bergen merged into AmerisourceBergen.[6]
In 1999, Cardinal acquired the Chicago-based medical products manufacturer and distributor, Allegiance Healthcare—formerly a division of Baxter Healthcare. Among its proprietary products, Allegiance made surgical drapes, gloves, and gowns; Allegiance also distributed customized arrangements of medical supplies (called "custom sterile packs" and "procedure-based delivery systems") as a means of offering end-user health care personnel a means of making their supply chain more efficient.[7]
In April 2005, Jeffrey W. Henderson joined Cardinal Health as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). R. Kerry Clark was appointed as President and CEO on April 17, 2006, with Robert D. Walter retaining the Chairmanship. On June 28, 2007, Cardinal Health announced the completion of the tender offer for VIASYS Healthcare.[8] On September 29, 2008 the company announced Kerry Clark would retire and George Barrett would become the Chairman and CEO. The company also announced plans to spin off the Clinical and Medical Products business as a separate publicly traded company under the name CareFusion, with David Schlotterbeck as CEO.[9] The spin-off was completed on September 1, 2009.[10] CareFusion's anticipated annual revenue will be approximately $4 billion.[9]
In June 2010, the company announced that it is planning to expand its presence in specialty pharmaceutical services with a definitive agreement to purchase Healthcare Solutions Holding in an upfront $517 million all-cash transaction.[11]
In December 2010, the company acquired Kinray, one of the last and largest independent pharmaceutical wholesalers in the United States. According to the Wall Street Journal, the acquisition increased Cardinal's presence in the independent pharmacy market by 40 percent.[12] Kinray had annual revenue of over $3.5 billion, and served about 2,000 independent retail pharmacy customers.[12]