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John R. Fischer, Senior Reporter | February 16, 2018
Health care supplier shares dropped
Tuesday as Amazon prepares to extend
its medical supplier business to hospitals
and clinics
McKesson, Cardinal Health and Owens & Minors seem to be back on track, following dives incurred Tuesday morning in their shares.
The three experienced drops in value of more than one percent as news spread of Amazon’s intention to expand the role of its medical supply Amazon Business Marketplace to service U.S. hospitals and clinics, according to
CNBC News.
McKesson experienced a 1.9 percent drop while Cardinal Health sank by 3.4 percent. Owens & Minor had the worst decline at 4.8 percent. Amazon’s, in contrast, rose by 1.7 percent.
Friday’s performance, as of 12:24 p.m., shows a recovery for all three, with McKesson up by 2.54, at a high of $151.24, Cardinal Health by 1.9 percent, at a high of $70.08, and Owens & Minor by 0.79, at $16.39.
Plans to extend Amazon’s footing in the health care industry have been in the works for the past year, with the enterprise
starting up an experimental lab in July to research areas such as electronic medical records and telemedicine, followed by
speculation of its expansion into the online prescription drug market.
It also
recently partnered with Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan Chase to create an independent company for employer-covered health care.
McKesson and Cardinal Health declined to comment. Amazon and Owens & Minor did not respond for comment.
