Cardinal Health Expands PET Nuclear Pharmacy Services to Support Clinical Drug Trials

NEW ORLEANS (Map) - NEW ORLEANS, June 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Cardinal Health, a global provider of products and services that improve the safety and productivity of health care, today announced that it will now manufacture, compound and distribute Positron Emission Tomography (PET) radiopharmaceuticals for clinical trials.

The company's new services for the clinical trial market will be discussed at the Society of Nuclear Medicine's (SNM) 55th Annual Meeting, taking place in New Orleans, June 14-18.

Cardinal Health owns and operates a network of more than 150 nuclear pharmacies and operates 25 cyclotron-based PET radiopharmaceutical manufacturing facilities. These facilities are registered with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to manufacture PET radiopharmaceuticals that are used by physicians to diagnose various medical conditions.

The company will now offer its PET manufacturing and distribution services to support clinical trials of new and novel PET agents. Cardinal Health will also work with pharmaceutical companies and physicians interested in using PET products to determine the efficacy of therapeutic medications.

"We're committed to advancing the future of molecular imaging by helping manufacturers expand the pipeline of new agents that will aid in the diagnosis and treatment of disease," said John Rademacher, general manager of nuclear pharmacy services for Cardinal Health. "By supporting the clinical trial phase of PET drug development, we will also build strong, long-term partnerships as these products move through the testing and approval phase and into routine clinical application."

As part of its comprehensive service, Cardinal Health will also submit drug master files to the FDA for several of the PET agents it manufactures. These files contain detailed information about the manufacturing and storing of a specific drug and can help expand the use of PET products because they allow physicians and others in the pharmaceutical industry to test PET agents in the treatment or diagnosis of disease without needing to re-file drug manufacturing information with the FDA.

In addition to operating the largest radiopharmacy network in the United States, Cardinal Health is also the largest employer of nuclear pharmacists in the world. The combination of that nuclear pharmacy expertise and the size of its network allows Cardinal Health to reach more than 85 percent of all U.S. hospitals within three hours and provide service and clinical expertise to the nuclear medicine community.

About Cardinal Health

Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH) is an $87 billion, global company serving the health care industry with products and services that help hospitals, physician offices and pharmacies reduce costs, improve safety, productivity and profitability, and deliver better care to patients. With a focus on making supply chains more efficient, reducing hospital-acquired infections and breaking the cycle of harmful medication errors, Cardinal Health develops market-leading technologies, including Alaris(R) IV pumps, Pyxis(R) automated dispensing systems, MedMined(TM) electronic infection surveillance service, VIASYS(R) respiratory care products and the CareFusion(TM) patient identification system. The company also manufactures medical and surgical products and is one of the largest distributors of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies worldwide. Ranked No. 19 on the Fortune 500, Cardinal Health employs more than 40,000 people on five continents. More information about the company may be found at http://www.cardinalhealth.com.