Cencora

“Are we talking about maybe some of the more traditional drug distributors like a McKesson or Cencora in this market?”

An analyst asked whether traditional wholesalers like Cencora compete with Cigna's CuraScript specialty distribution business; management clarified they don't compete directly since CuraScript is medical-benefit specialty focused.

“the January 2025 acquisition of Retina Consultants of America.”

Cencora's January 2025 acquisition of Retina Consultants of America drove gross-margin expansion and outperformed expectations, with strong clinical-trial and research contributions.

“we've completed our acquisition of the majority of the remaining equity interest in OneOncology.”

Cencora completed its acquisition, raising its stake in community-oncology MSO OneOncology to 92%, and expects it to be a meaningful contributor to operating income.

“we have done a very good job in repurchasing shares as WBA was selling shares”

Walgreens Boots Alliance, a large Cencora shareholder, has been selling down its stake, which Cencora has opportunistically repurchased.

“OneOncology is a business that is owned 35% by ourselves and then 65% by a private equity firm in the practices and the physicians at OneOncology.”

Cencora holds a 35% stake in OneOncology with a put-call structure to full ownership; strong OneOncology growth is boosting Cencora's specialty distribution and GPO sales.

“The acquisition of Retina Consultants of America, RCA, is a recent investment that reflects our commitment to strengthening our leadership in specialty.”

Cencora frames its RCA acquisition as a completed, well-performing specialty MSO platform driving both organic and inorganic growth in its U.S. Healthcare Solutions segment.

“our investment with a pathway to full ownership in OneOncology.”

Cencora holds an investment in OneOncology with a contractual pathway to full ownership, signaling further specialty/oncology MSO consolidation ahead.

“we own 35% of OneOncology, but there is a put/call structure with our partners there, which makes it likely that from a capital deployment standpoint, we would own all of that business at some point in time, which speaks to a good deal of our capital deployment over the next few years.”

Cencora holds a 35% equity stake in OneOncology with a put/call structure likely leading to full ownership over time, a key piece of its future capital deployment and MSO strategy.

“driven by approximately $1.0 billion in opportunistic share repurchases over the past year, including $50 million in February in concurrence with Walgreens Boots Alliance's sale of shares.”

Cencora repurchased $50 million of its own shares in February concurrent with Walgreens Boots Alliance, a longtime equity holder, selling down its Cencora stake.

“We’ve seen some noise from UPS Healthcare and others.”

An analyst raises UPS Healthcare as a competitive threat to Cencora's World Courier specialty logistics business, though management attributes World Courier's softness to subdued clinical trial demand rather than competitive losses.

“We’re obviously a very important--they’re a very important customer, a strategic customer over the long term not just in the U.S. but in the U.K., as well as our sourcing relationship with WBAD, so very high priority for us.”

Cencora is in active discussions with Walgreens over their current distribution contract; management describes Walgreens as a top-priority strategic customer across the U.S. and U.K. while declining to detail negotiation specifics.

“I think you guys are the largest distributor for Regeneron on Eylea, and Amgen just launched--I think they announced last quarter the launch of their version, Pavblu into the market.”

Amgen recently launched Pavblu, a biosimilar version of Regeneron's Eylea, which Cencora will distribute and whose adoption Cencora's retina MSO could help accelerate.

“I think you guys are the largest distributor for Regeneron on Eylea, and Amgen just launched--I think they announced last quarter the launch of their version, Pavblu into the market.”

Cencora is described as the largest distributor for Regeneron's Eylea, an established retina drug now facing new biosimilar competition.