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MCKESSON CORP

For the period ended Mar 31, 2025. Filed May 9, 2025.

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A company's yearly report to the SEC, with audited financial statements. It is the fullest account a company gives of its business, its finances and the risks it sees.

FY2025 · Filed May 9, 2025

MCK$1,082.59+2.2%Stored close · as of Nov 10, 2026

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Contents

Industry and Economic Risks

We might be adversely impacted by healthcare reform such as changes in pricing and reimbursement models.

Many of our products and services are designed to function within the structure of current healthcare financing and reimbursement systems. The healthcare industry and related government programs are changing. Some of these changes increase our risks and create uncertainties for our business.

For example, some changes in reimbursement methodologies (including government rates) for pharmaceuticals, medical treatments, and related services reduce profit margins for us and our customers and impose new legal requirements on healthcare providers. Those changes have included cuts in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement levels, changes in the bases for payments, shifts from fee-for-service pricing towards value-based payments and risk-sharing models, and increases in the use of managed care.

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In the U.S., the ACA significantly expanded health insurance coverage to uninsured Americans and changed the way healthcare is financed by both governmental and private payors. Enactment of the IRA and its implementation over the next several years is anticipated to bring meaningful changes in how Medicare pays for drugs and various benefit design changes, which are all intended to reduce the price of drugs. Three central features of the IRA authorize the government to negotiate drug prices for certain Parts B and D drugs over time, establish an inflationary rebate program, and cap patient cost sharing under Medicare Part D. The implementation of these and other features of the IRA may result in significant changes to the pharmaceutical value chain as manufacturers, pharmacy benefit managers, managed care organizations, and other industry stakeholders look to implement new transactional flows and adapt their business models. Any such changes to arrangements involving our business as a result of this legislation, such as changes to our distribution agreements with manufacturers impacted by the IRA, may materially affect our business. The extent of the effects of the IRA remains uncertain due to a number of factors, including the potential for future regulations and guidance promulgated by HHS to implement provisions of the IRA. We continue to evaluate the impact of this law on our business.

Private challenges to government healthcare policy may also have significant impacts on our business. For example, many pharmaceutical manufacturers have unilaterally restricted sales under the Public Health Service’s 340B Drug Pricing Program (the “340B program”) to contract pharmacies. The 340B program requires manufacturers to offer discounts on certain drugs purchased by “covered entities,” which include safety-net providers. The Health Resources and Services Administration (“HRSA”) has taken the position that a covered entity may dispense such discounted drugs through multiple contract pharmacies. Starting in 2020, some manufacturers began to restrict such practices. Certain manufacturers and HHS continue to litigate these issues. The U.S. Courts of Appeal for the Third and D.C. Circuits have ruled that Section 340B of the Public Health Service Act does not require manufacturers to provide discounted drugs to an unlimited number of contract pharmacies. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit also is addressing this issue but has not yet ruled. Separately, several entities have filed lawsuits against HHS and HRSA related to the proposed implementation of rebate models to effectuate 340B pricing. Any changes to our arrangements that result from the rulings in these cases might have an adverse impact on our business.

Provincial governments in Canada that provide partial funding for the purchase of pharmaceuticals and independently regulate the sale and reimbursement of drugs have sought to reduce the costs of publicly funded health programs. For example, provincial governments have taken steps to reduce consumer prices for generic pharmaceuticals and, in some provinces, change professional allowances paid to pharmacists by generic manufacturers.

Although there is substantial uncertainty about the likelihood, timing, and results of these health reform efforts and challenges, their implementation or outcome might have a materially adverse impact on our business operations and our financial position or results of operations.

We are adversely impacted by competition and industry consolidation.

Our businesses face a highly competitive global environment with strong competition from international, national, regional, and local full-line, short-line, and specialty distributors, service merchandisers, self-warehousing chain drug stores, manufacturers engaged in direct distribution, third-party logistics companies, and large payer organizations. In addition, our businesses face competition from various other service providers and from pharmaceutical and other healthcare manufacturers as well as other potential customers, which may from time to time decide to develop, for their own internal needs, supply management capabilities that might otherwise be provided by our businesses. We also may face competition from companies that move faster to adopt emerging technologies. Due to consolidation, a few large suppliers control a significant share of the pharmaceuticals market. This concentration reduces our ability to negotiate favorable terms with suppliers and causes us to depend on a smaller number of suppliers. Many of our customers, including healthcare organizations, have consolidated or joined group purchasing organizations and have greater power to negotiate favorable prices. Consolidation by our customers, suppliers, and competitors might reduce the number of market participants and give the remaining enterprises greater bargaining power, which might lead to erosion in our profit margin. Consolidation might increase counterparty credit risk because credit purchases increase for fewer market participants. Consolidation also might affect our ability to achieve our growth objectives through acquisitions and other strategic transactions. These competitive pressures and industry consolidation might have a materially adverse impact on our business operations and our financial position or results of operations.

From time to time we have difficulties in sourcing or selling products due to a variety of causes and are adversely impacted by disruptions or changes in product supply.

We rely on third parties for the supply of pharmaceutical and other products, and our operations are subject to our suppliers’ continued ability to supply the products that we require. From time to time, we experience difficulties and delays in

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sourcing and selling products due to a variety of causes that result in suppliers’ failure to satisfy production demand. Among these causes are suppliers’ challenges in complying with legal requirements (including product and production quality standards), access to raw materials, inputs, and finished goods, manufacturing shutdowns, and operational and systems difficulties. Supply disruptions also arise from other factors beyond our control, such as product rationalization; government actions or policies (including trade sanctions, tariffs and other trade restrictions, as well as the requisition, diversion, or allocation of inventory); shifts in customer or societal demand for products; labor disputes or shortages; ethical sourcing issues; supplier financial distress; natural disasters and weather-related events; civil unrest; military conflicts; and epidemics or pandemics. In these types of situations, our alternative sourcing efforts are not always fully successful. We might experience extended delays or incur higher sourcing costs or suffer harm to our customer relationships and reputation. Furthermore, changes in the healthcare industry’s or our suppliers’ pricing, selling, inventory, distribution, or supply policies or practices could significantly reduce our revenues and net income. Any of these disruptions or changes might have a materially adverse impact on our business operations and our financial position or results of operations.

We are adversely impacted as a result of our distribution of generic pharmaceuticals.

Our generic pharmaceuticals distribution business is subject to both product availability and pricing risks. We might experience disruptions in our supply of generic pharmaceuticals. We have been impacted when, due to regulatory and supply chain challenges, our supplier partners are not able to deliver products that we have committed to source from them. Input cost increases, product discontinuations, and market shortages could result in ClarusONE, our joint venture with Walmart Inc., being unsuccessful in sourcing product to meet the needs of our customers, or could negatively impact our margin. Generic drug manufacturers offer a generic version of branded pharmaceuticals and routinely challenge the validity or enforceability of branded pharmaceutical patents in order to launch the drug pre- or post-loss of exclusivity. Patent holders have asserted infringement claims against us for distributing those generic versions they believed to have infringed a patent, and the generic drug manufacturers may not fully indemnify us against such claims. These risks and outcomes, as well as changes in the nature, frequency, or magnitude of generic pharmaceutical launches, might have a materially adverse impact on our business operations and our financial position or results of operations.

We are adversely impacted by changes in the economic environments in which we operate, including from inflation, an economic slowdown, a recession, or fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates.

Inflationary conditions result in increased costs associated with our normal business operations and decreased levels of consumer commercial spending and, to the extent we are not able to offset such cost increases from our suppliers, increase the costs which we incur to purchase inventories and services. Inflationary pressure is increased by factors such as supply chain disruptions, labor market tightness, actual or announced tariffs, government policies, interest rate changes, and foreign exchange rate changes. An economic slowdown or a recession could also reduce the prices our customers are able or willing to pay for our products and services and reduce the volume of their purchases. In addition to rising inflation, rising interest rates, the impact of banking failures or perceived failures and related contagion, consumer sentiment, political circumstances, military conflicts, and civil unrest may contribute to recessionary pressure. Our non-U.S. operations, import and export of products sold in non-U.S. dollar (USD) denominations, non-USD intercompany loans, and our substantial international net assets also expose us to foreign currency exchange rate risk. Changes in the economic environments in which we operate might have a materially adverse impact on our business operations and our financial position or results of operations.

Changes affecting capital and credit markets might impede access to credit, increase borrowing costs, and disrupt banking services for us and our customers and suppliers and might impair the financial soundness of our customers and suppliers.

Volatility and disruption in global capital and credit markets, including the bankruptcy or restructuring of certain financial institutions, reduced lending activity by financial institutions, reduced creditworthiness of our customers or suppliers, or decreased liquidity and increased costs in the commercial paper market, might adversely affect the borrowing ability and cost of borrowing for us and our customers and suppliers. Credit rating agencies regularly review our credit and rate our outstanding debt; and any downgrades in our credit ratings might limit our access to public debt markets, decrease financial institutions willingness to lend to us, lead to more restrictive debt covenants, increase our borrowing costs, and adversely affect our earnings. We generally sell our products and services under short-term unsecured credit arrangements. An adverse change in general or entity-specific economic conditions or access to capital might cause our customers to reduce their purchases from us, or delay payments, or fail to pay amounts, owed to us. Suppliers might increase their prices, reduce their output, or change their terms of sale due to limited availability of credit. Suppliers might be unable to make payments due to us for fees, returned products, or incentives. Interest rate increases or changes in capital market conditions, including as a result of macroeconomic

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events, might impede our or our customers’ or suppliers’ ability or cost to obtain credit. Any of these risks might have a materially adverse impact on our business operations and our financial position or results of operations.

We might be adversely impacted by tax legislation or challenges to our tax positions.

We are subject to the tax laws in the U.S. at the federal, state, and local government levels and to the tax laws of other jurisdictions in which we operate or sell products or services. Tax laws might change in ways that adversely affect our tax positions, effective tax rate, and cash flow. The tax laws are extremely complex and subject to varying interpretations. For example, the European Union and other countries (including countries in which we operate) have committed to enacting changes to numerous long-standing tax principles impacting how large multinational enterprises are taxed. In particular, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Pillar Two initiative introduces a 15% global minimum tax applied on a country-by-country basis which many jurisdictions have enacted or committed to enact. The impact of these new and potential regulations as well as any other changes in domestic and international tax regulations could have a material effect on our effective tax rate. We are subject to tax examinations in various jurisdictions that might assess additional tax liabilities against us. Our tax reporting positions are sometimes challenged by relevant tax authorities, we might incur significant expense in our efforts to defend those challenges, and we might be unsuccessful in those efforts. Developments in examinations and challenges might materially change our provision for taxes in the affected periods and might differ materially from our historical tax accruals. Any of these risks might have a materially adverse impact on our business operations, our cash flows, and our financial position or results of operations.

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