Kinray, one of the US's top private wholesale drug distributors, won't be independent much longer. The company provides generic, branded, and repackaged drugs, health and beauty products, medical equipment, vitamins, and diabetes-care products to 2,000 independent pharmacies, long-term care facilities, and specialty pharmacies along the Eastern Seaboard. Kinray also offers about 800 private label products under the Preferred Plus Pharmacy brand. The firm was founded in 1944 by sole owner and CEO Stewart Rahr's father, Joseph Rahr. The younger Rahr took over in 1975 and has since turned the company into a multi-billion dollar enterprise. However, in 2010 Kinray agreed to be acquired by Cardinal Health.

A.F. Blakemore and Son (AFB) is a leading wholesale grocery distributor that serves more than 700 SPAR convenience stores in England and Wales. It also operates more than 200 of the chain stores through its Tates subsidiary. In addition to its broadline grocery distribution business, AFB supplies foodservice operators through its Blakemore Food Service unit, and it operates about 10 cash & carry outlets through Blackmore Wholesale. The company's Blakemore Fresh Foods unit distributes meat products throughout Europe. The family-owned business was started by Arthur Blakemore in 1917.

Omnicare, Inc., a pharmaceutical services company, provides pharmaceuticals and related pharmacy and ancillary services to long-term healthcare institutions. Its Pharmacy Services segment distributes pharmaceuticals and provides related pharmacy consulting and other ancillary services, data management services, and medical supplies to skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, retirement centers, independent living communities, hospitals, hospice, and other healthcare service providers. It purchases, repackages, and dispenses prescription and non prescription pharmaceuticals; provides computerized medical record-keeping and third-party billing services; and offers consultant pharmacist services. This segment also provides intravenous medications and nutrition products, respiratory therapy services, medical supplies and equipment, clinical care planning and financial software information systems, electronic medical records systems, pharmaceutical informatics services, retail and mail-order pharmacy services, pharmaceutical care management for hospice agencies, and product support and distribution services for specialty pharmaceutical manufacturers, as well as offers pharmaceutical case management services for retirees, employees, and dependents who have drug benefits under corporate-sponsored healthcare programs. As of December 31, 2009, it served long-term care facilities, and chronic care and other settings comprising approximately 1,377,000 beds in 47 states in the United States, the District of Columbia, and Canada. The company’s Contract Research Organization Services segment offers product development and research services to client companies in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and diagnostics industries, as well as provides support for the design of regulatory strategy and clinical development of pharmaceuticals for its client’s drug development programs. Omnicare, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is based in Covington, Kentucky.

Palmer & Harvey McLane (P&H) is the leading retail food wholesaler in the UK, serving supermarkets, independent shops, convenience stores, and pubs through its 10 distribution centers. The company supplies retailers with with a full menu of broadline grocery products, fresh produce, canned goods, meats, and frozen foods. It also distributes beer, sprits, and wine, as well as tobacco products and general merchandise. In addition to its wholesale distribution business, P&H offers commercial printing services, electronic point-of-sale systems, and store-design services.

Owens & Minor, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, distributes medical and surgical supplies, as well as provides supply chain management services in the United States. It offers a product line of medical and surgical supplies to healthcare providers under the MediChoice private label. The company’s supply chain management services include logistics, supplier management, analytics, inventory, outsourced resource management and consulting, and clinical supply management services to manufacturers of medical and surgical products. It also offers PANDAC, an operating room-focused inventory management program that helps healthcare providers to control suture and endo-mechanical inventory; SurgiTrack, a surgical supply service, which includes the assembly and delivery of surgical supplies in procedure-based totes based on a healthcare provider’s surgical schedule; OMSolutions, a supply chain consulting, customer technology, and resource management service offering; WISDOM Gold, an Internet-based supply spend management, data normalization, and contract management solution; CSS, an inventory and contract management service that enables healthcare providers to track and manage physician-preference products and medical/surgical inventories; and OM Healthcare Logistics, which provides third-party logistics and business process outsourcing services. Owens and Minor offers its products and services to acute-care hospitals, the U.S. Department of Defense, and alternate site providers, including ambulatory surgery centers, physicians’ practices, clinics, home healthcare organizations, nursing homes, and rehabilitation facilities. Owens & Minor, Inc. was founded in 1882 and is headquartered in Mechanicsville, Virginia.

ALR Technologies Inc. designs, markets, and develops medication compliance reminder devices and compliance monitoring systems primarily in the United States. Its products include ALRT Health-e-Connect System, a health management compliance monitoring system, which allows health care professionals to program compliance reminders for patients with chronic conditions, such as diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and other disease states; and Constant Health Companion, a product that reminds with audio beeping sound and displays actions to take on LCD screen. The company’s products also comprise Home Monitoring System that allows a treatment center and other health care professionals to remotely change patient's reminder timing and/or the actions/doses/medications to take at the time of each reminder serving heart disease patients, organ transplant recipients, cancer patients, severe diabetics, HIV patients, and patients with other chronic diseases. In addition, it offers ALALRT Health-e-Connect System for diabetes monitoring, a communications software platform that enables health professionals to remotely monitor the health progress of diabetic patients; and ALRT Health-e-Connect System for respiratory health management, which enables physicians and caregivers to monitor the use of the nebulizer, the time of day used, and the duration of time used. Further, the company provides vision care and contact lens replacement reminders; reminders for vitamins; nutrition and weight management programs; and reminders for medications for companion animals. Its target market consists of patients with diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, as well as with cystic fibrosis, transplant patients, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, and cancer. ALR Technologies Inc. was formerly known as Mo Betta Corp. and changed its name to ALR Technologies Inc. in December 1998. ALR Technologies Inc. was founded in 1987 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Forrest City Grocery Co. distributes grocery items (food and tobacco products) to some 2,000 retail food and convenience and dollar stores in Arkansas and portions of Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Missouri. It offers private-label brands such as Better Valu and Parade. In 2009 it acquired Memphis-based Galler Wholesale, adding 150 stores to its service area. Dating back to 1911, the company operates out of a 200,00-square-foot distribution center located in Forrest City, Arkansas. It us owned and operated by the third generation of the founding Cohn family.

Spartan Stores, Inc. operates as a grocery distributor and grocery retailer principally in Michigan and Indiana. The company operates in two segments, Distribution and Retail. The Distribution segment provides approximately 43,000 stock-keeping units, including dry groceries, produce, dairy products, meat, deli, bakery, frozen food, seafood, floral products, general merchandise, pharmacy, and health and beauty care items to approximately 375 independent grocery stores and 96 corporate-owned stores. It also offers approximately 3,200 private label grocery and general merchandise items, as well as provides value-added services, including site identification and market analyses, store planning and development, marketing, promotion, advertising, technology and information, accounting and tax preparation, human resource, coupon redemption, product reclamation, printing, category management, real estate, and construction management services. The Retail segment operates retail supermarkets under the banners comprising Glen's Markets, Family Fare Supermarkets, D&W Fresh Markets, Felpausch Food Centers, and VG's Food and Pharmacy. It operates approximately 96 retail supermarkets that offer dry groceries, produce, dairy products, meat, frozen food, seafood, floral products, general merchandise, beverages, tobacco products, health and beauty care products, delicatessen items, and bakery goods; and 66 supermarkets that offer pharmacy services. It also offers private label items, including its Spartan brand; Top Care, a health and beauty care brand label; Valu Time, a value brand; and Full Circle, a natural and organic brand. In addition, this segment operates 24 fuel centers under the banners of D&W Quick Stop, Family Fare Quick Stop, Glen's Quick Stop, Felpausch Quick Stop, and V.G.'s Quick Stop that offer refueling facilities, as well as a convenience store providing consumable products. The company was founded in 1917 and is based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

AJC International, Inc. is a leading distributor of refrigerated and frozen food products, serving customers in more than 140 countries. It supplies retail and foodservice customers with a variety of products, including beef, poultry, pork, and seafood, as well as fruits and vegetables. It also offers its own branded products under such labels as Early Dawn, Golden Phoenix, and Mity Fresh. In addition to food distribution, AJC offers warehousing and other logistics services. Chairman and CEO Gerald Allison and vice chairman Eric Joiner founded AJC in 1972.

Taitron Components Incorporated engages in the distribution of brand name electronic components, as well as the supply of original designed and manufactured (ODM) electronic components. It offers various discrete semiconductors, which include rectifiers, diodes, transistors, optoelectronic devices, commodity integrated circuits, and passive components. The company’s ODM products are marketed in wild animal feeders, timers for DC motor, public street light controllers, battery testers, universal remote control devices, and battery chargers industries. It serves electronic distributors, contract electronic manufacturers, and original equipment manufacturers. Taitron Components Incorporated sells its products in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Taiwan, China, and Canada. Taitron has strategic alliances with Princeton Technology Corporation and Teamforce Co. Ltd. Taitron Components Incorporated was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Valencia, California.

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