Drug-shipping giant AmerisourceBergen is changing its name to Cencora

AmerisourceBergen, the giant Conshohocken-based pharmaceuticals distributor that ships more than $20 billion worth of drugs every month, is changing its name to Cencora.

The company says it has been pondering a change to a less American-centric name since it agreed to pay $6.5 billion for Walgreen Boots Alliance’s drug businesses in western Europe and the Middle East two years ago.

“It’s a defining moment for our organization,” as the company expands “around the world,” AmerisourceBergen said in a statement on its website, adding that the new name will be in use later this year. AmerisourceBergen says it ships to nearly all U.S. hospitals, more than one-third of pharmacies, and more than 67,000 doctors and medical practices.

AmerisourceBergen’s brand attracted unwelcomed attention in 2021 when it agreed to pay more than $6 billion as part of a drug industry settlement with the Justice Department over its role in distributing opioid painkillers that regulators and state law enforcement officials have said contributed to a rapid increase in addiction and drug abuse deaths in communities including Philadelphia. About $1 billion of that money is earmarked for Pennsylvania.

Last month, the company was sued by the Justice Department for failing to report suspicious drug sales to law enforcement. When she announced the lawsuit, U.S. Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, who grew up near the company’s suburban headquarters, accused AmerisourceBergen of having “prioritized profits over its legal obligations and over Americans’ well-being.”

The company at the time told the Wall Street Journal that the government was repeating allegations that were addressed in the 2021 settlement and “cherry-picking” a few pharmacies out of the many thousands it serves. AmerisourceBergen also blamed the Drug Enforcement Administration for not doing more with information it provided.

AmerisourceBergen has not cited the headline-making litigation and settlements as reasons for the name change.

On Monday, the company announced a significant new customer, Civica Rx, a nonprofit generic drug manufacturer founded in 2018 by a consortium of philanthropists and seven hospital chains to alleviate shortages of insulin and other drugs. Two years later, Independence Health Group, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, and 16 other Blue Cross insurers invested $55 million in a joint venture with Civica Rx to help the drugmaker expand.

AmerisourceBergen last year moved into a new headquarters complex that is the centerpiece of redevelopment in Conshohocken, Montgomery County, where it consolidated about 1,000 jobs formerly in King of Prussia and Chesterbrook. It has said it will add hundreds more.

The company is the largest, by gross sales, of any company based in the Philadelphia area, but most of those revenues are passed along to major drugmakers whose medicines AmerisourceBergen packages, routes and ships to pharmacies, hospitals and other medical practices. It operates a network of 30 large distribution centers.

It is the largest of a handful of companies that dominate the pharmaceutical shipping business.

Staff writer Harold Brubaker contributed to this article.