McKesson Corp. (MCK)

McKesson buys medicines and medical supplies from manufacturers and delivers them to the places that dispense them: retail pharmacies, hospitals, doctors' surgeries, cancer clinics, nursing homes and home health agencies across the United States and Canada. Alongside the physical distribution it sells the ordering, purchasing, reimbursement and inventory software those customers run, and it manages access programmes for drug makers. The company traces its business roots to 1833 and was incorporated in Delaware on 7 July 1994. Its financial year ends on 31 March, and from the second quarter of fiscal 2026 it reports in four segments.

North American Pharmaceutical

Branded, generic, specialty, biosimilar and over-the-counter drugs distributed to customers in the U.S. and Canada, alongside financial, operational and clinical services sold to pharmacies. The U.S. business runs 27 distribution centres, two of them strategic redistribution centres totalling over 740,000 square feet that hold inventory for single-source warehouse purchasing. It serves three customer channels: retail national accounts, meaning chains, mail order pharmacies and mass merchandisers; community pharmacy and health; and institutional providers such as hospitals and long-term care. Health Mart is a franchise network of approximately 3,900 independently owned pharmacies. Generic buying runs through the ClarusONE joint venture with Walmart. In Canada the wholesale arm supplies pharmacies, hospitals and clinics through a national network of distribution centres, and the retail arm operates approximately 2,600 independent pharmacies under five banners: IDA, Guardian, Remedy'sRx, Proxim and Uniprix.

Oncology and multispecialty

This segment sells to community physician specialists, among them oncologists, rheumatologists, ophthalmologists, urologists and neurologists. It distributes specialty drugs, runs group purchasing organisations such as Onmark, provides infusion and direct-to-patient pharmacy, and supports the U.S. Oncology Network of physician-led, community-based cancer practices. It holds an 80% controlling interest in PRISM Vision, an ophthalmology and retina management business, and a 51% controlling interest in SCRI, an oncology research network specialising in clinical trial access. Ontada is the segment's oncology software and data business, selling into practices and to drug makers for real-world evidence studies.

Prescription technology

This segment sits between patients, pharmacies, prescribers, pharmacy benefit managers, health plans and drug makers to handle medication access and affordability: electronic prior authorisation, prescription price transparency, dispensing support, patient enrolment, and third-party logistics. The company reports connections with over 50,000 pharmacies, more than 1,000,000 providers and support for over 650 biopharma brands. It reports that in the past year it helped patients access their medicine more than 135 million times and helped prevent an estimated 12 million prescriptions from being abandoned over affordability.

Medical-surgical supplies

Gloves, needles, syringes, wound care products, infusion pumps, laboratory equipment and pharmaceuticals sold to more than 336,000 non-acute customers: physician offices, surgery centres, post-acute care facilities, hospital reference labs and home health agencies. The segment carries more than 270,000 national brand products and its own line of more than 4,000. During fiscal 2026 the company announced an intention to separate this segment into an independent company, and on 20 April 2026 announced a definitive agreement under which funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management would acquire an approximately 13% minority interest through an investment of approximately $1.25 billion in the segment's convertible preferred equity, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.

Competition and people

The filing names Cencora and Cardinal Health as the primary competitors in distribution, wholesaling and logistics. Elsewhere the competition comes from specialty distributors, group purchasing organisations, specialty pharmacies, contract research organisations, software and consulting firms, and customers who choose to build supply management capability in-house. The filing states that price, quality of service, product assortment, innovation, adoption of emerging technologies and customer convenience are the primary competitive factors. There were more than 43,000 employees worldwide at 31 March 2026, including 1,400 part-time: approximately 38,000 in the U.S., 5,000 in Canada and 400 in the rest of the world. The former Norwegian distribution and retail pharmacy business was sold during fiscal 2026.

From McKesson's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended 31 March 2026. The filing