Vertical Integration Redux: How Pharmaceutical Wholesalers Are Transforming the Buy-and-Bill Market (Video)

ICYMI, the largest three pharmaceutical wholesalers—Cardinal Health, Cencora, and McKesson—are using vertical integration to build significant market positions in businesses beyond drug distribution.

In the video clip below, I review the vertical integration status of the largest three pharmaceutical wholesalers, illustrated in the chart below.


I also:

• Explain how wholesalers have strengthened their position in buy-and-bill channels for provider-administered drugs through vertical integration with their downstream customers.

• Discuss how and why private equity roll-up activity has provided wholesalers with strategic opportunities to acquire ownership stakes in practice management companies.

• Outline the market access implications for provider-administered biosimilars in the buy-and-bill market.

This video was excerpted from my recent Drug Channels Outlook 2025 webinar. Click here if you can’t see the video below.


For more on the forces of change affecting drug distribution and the buy-and-bill market, see Chapter 6 of DCI’s recent 2024-25 Economic Report on Pharmaceutical Wholesalers and Specialty Distributors.