McKesson names Mark Walchirk president of U.S. pharmaceutical unit

Mark Walchirk.

McKesson Corp. named Mark Walchirk as president of its U.S. pharmaceutical unit, its largest business, effective immediately. He will be the unit's third president in the last 21 months. Walchirk, most recently COO of McKesson Specialty Health, has been with the San Francisco-based pharmaceutical distribution and health care information technology giant (NYSE: MCK) for 11 years. He succeeds Brian Tyler, who was named executive vice president of corporate strategy and business development of McKesson Corp. in late August.

McKesson to build $37M medical device distribution center in Virginia

McKesson Corp., the San Francisco-based drug distribution and health care information technology giant, plans to build a $36.9 million distribution center in Frederick County, Virginia, for its medical-surgical division. The new center will create 205 jobs in the area, adding to the 1,000 McKesson jobs in Virginia.

McKesson, Hearst sued by Michigan AG over drug pricing

Michigan is suing San Francisco-based drug and medical products distributor McKesson Corp. and Hearst Corp., saying they conspired to artificially inflate wholesale prices and cost the state millions of dollars in Medicaid reimbursements.
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette alleged that McKesson and Hearst, which owns First DataBank Inc. of South San Francisco as well as the San Francisco Chronicle, violated the Michigan Medicaid False Claims Act by knowingly publishing false average wholesale prices for certain medicines from late 2001 through September 2009.