Who is the largest distributor of medical supplies?

The answer depends on what is included in the term medical supplies.

If the category specifically means medical-surgical products such as hospital consumables, surgical products, gloves, wound-care products, diagnostic supplies, patient-care products, and other med-surg items, Medline is one of the clearest current answers.

Medline reported:
• $28.4 billion in 2025 net salesapproximately 335,000 products
• operations in more than 100 countries and territories
• 70 global distribution centers
• 30 global manufacturing sites
• more than 29 million square feet of warehousing

The company states that its position as the largest provider is based on medical-surgical product sales compared with companies that operate as both med-surg manufacturers and distributors.

Other very large healthcare distributors include Cardinal Health, McKesson, Cencora, and Owens & Minor, but their business mixes differ substantially.

For example, Cardinal Health operates both a major pharmaceutical distribution business and a Global Medical Products and Distribution segment that manufactures, sources, and distributes medical, surgical, and laboratory products.

This distinction matters because rankings based on total healthcare revenue will produce a different answer from rankings based specifically on medical-surgical supply sales.