McKesson and Cardinal Health are sitting on huge inventories of personal protective equipment, some of which they estimate won't be used or will expire, resulting in a $164 million loss for McKesson and a $197 million loss for Cardinal in the second quarter.
Between the lines: Last year, during the height of the pandemic, PPE was in high demand but short supply, leading to high prices and long waits.
- Now that supply has caught up, some medical distributors have too much and believe a lot will go unsold, although McKesson said it would donate some of its excess PPE.