Cardinal Health to Acquire Integrated Oncology Network in 'Cancer Care Arms Race'

The pharmaceutical distributor giant is strengthening its oncology business to compete with its peers.

In the latest move by a pharmaceutical distributor to solidify its position in the oncology market, Cardinal Health announced its plan to acquire Integrated Oncology Network for $1.1 billion.

By scooping up the physician-led independent community oncology network, Cardinal will add more than 50 practice sites and more than 100 providers to its oncology practice alliance Navista, allowing the company to jostle in the space with competitors like McKesson and Cencora.

ION’s practices will also gain access to Navista’s AI analytics capabilities, along with insights from the PPS Analytics and SoNaR technology solutions of Specialty Networks, which Cardinal acquired for $1.2 billion earlier this year.

"Driving growth in specialty continues to be a top priority, and we've made investments to expand our offerings through both Navista and our acquisition of Specialty Networks," Cardinal Health CEO Jason Hollar said in a statement. "With their proven model providing extensive support of community oncology across the cancer care continuum and healthcare ecosystem, we're confident Integrated Oncology Network will further accelerate our oncology strategy and enable us to create value for providers and patients."  

Dublin, Ohio-based Cardinal continues to invest in specialty drugs and oncology, with the latter arena seeing stiff competition as companies vie for market share.

McKesson announced last month it was acquiring a controlling interest in Community Oncology Revitalization Enterprise Ventures (Core Ventures), a business and administrative services unit of Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute, for $2.5 billion.

Last year, Cencora partnered with TPG to seize a minority interest in OneOncology for $2.1 billion.

Calls to block ‘The Big Three’

Cencora’s deal was completed, but Cardinal and McKesson’s acquisitions are still pending regulatory approval. The American Economic Liberties Project and five other advocacy organizations, however, have asked the FTC to block both moves to keep the companies from further dominating the oncology market.

In the letter written to the federal agency, the groups highlighted that Cardinals, McKesson, and Cencora, or ‘The Big Three,’ account for 98% of the wholesaler industry.

When wholesalers wield their oncology market power, it’s “at the expense of cancer patients, who suffer from persistent drug shortages and higher prices,” the letter argued.

“We respectfully request that the FTC apply the same level of scrutiny to block McKesson’s proposed acquisition of FCS’ Core Ventures and Cardinal Health’s proposed acquisition of the Integrated Oncology Network, both of which exceed the threshold for merger review by at least ninefold,” the groups wrote. “Otherwise, American cancer patients will be left to pay the life-threatening costs of ever-increasing wholesaler concentration, casualties in an intensifying ‘cancer care arms race.’”