Medical disposables are easy to overlook because many of them are used only once. Yet products such as surgical gowns, gloves, syringes, IV administration sets, wound-care products, infection-prevention supplies and other single-use medical products sit at the center of everyday healthcare delivery.
What makes this sector particularly interesting is the role of large companies. The competitive story is no longer only about producing individual disposable products. Companies are increasingly competing through manufacturing scale, hospital contracts, distribution networks, private-label portfolios, supply-chain capabilities and specialized products.
Several major companies illustrate this shift clearly.
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Why Is Medline Becoming One of the Most Important Companies in Medical Disposables?
Medline has built its position around something broader than manufacturing. The company combines a large medical-surgical product portfolio with distribution and supply-chain services.
Medline reported $28.4 billion in 2025 net sales, up 11.5% from $25.5 billion in 2024. Net income was approximately $1.2 billion, while adjusted EBITDA reached $3.5 billion.
The scale of its operations is particularly significant. Medline reported approximately 335,000 products, more than 29 million square feet of warehousing, 70 global distribution centers and more than 45,000 employees. It also reported next-day delivery coverage for 95% of U.S. customers.
This gives Medline an advantage that extends beyond individual products.
Its strategy is built around the Medline Brand and Supply Chain Solutions segments. Hospitals can therefore purchase large groups of routine medical-surgical products while also relying on Medline for logistics.
The important insight is that scale itself becomes competitive infrastructure. A company capable of manufacturing, stocking and delivering thousands of disposable products can become deeply integrated into hospital procurement decisions.
How Is Cardinal Health Turning Medical Products Into a Higher-Value Business?
Cardinal Health approaches the sector differently. Its medical-products operation sits within the Global Medical Products and Distribution (GMPD) segment, alongside the company’s much larger pharmaceutical business.
In fiscal 2025, GMPD generated $12.64 billion in revenue, compared with $12.38 billion in fiscal 2024. More importantly, segment profit increased 47% to $135 million. Cardinal attributed the improvement largely to volume growth from existing customers and cost-optimization initiatives, although higher manufacturing costs remained a pressure.
The company’s strategy has increasingly focused on growing its own Cardinal Health-branded medical products.
That matters because proprietary products can provide greater control over product design, sourcing, pricing and customer relationships than simply distributing products manufactured by other companies.
Cardinal’s 2025 performance suggests that operational efficiency can be just as important as revenue growth. GMPD revenue grew only 2%, but segment profit expanded much faster.
This is a useful indicator of where competition is moving: companies are not simply trying to sell more medical supplies; they are trying to make their product and distribution operations more efficient.
Why Does Owens & Minor Have a Different Position in Medical Disposables?
Owens & Minor occupies an interesting position because it combines distribution with manufacturing and healthcare services.
Its Products & Healthcare Services segment includes medical distribution and Global Products, where the company manufactures and sources medical-surgical products through its own production and kitting operations. Its portfolio also includes infection-prevention products and supplies used across acute, alternate-site and consumer channels.
In 2024, Products & Healthcare Services generated approximately $8.02 billion in revenue, up 3.1% from 2023. The company said Medical Distribution revenue increased 4%, driven by existing customers, while Global Products experienced a slight decline, partly because of competitive pricing pressure, including pressure on glove prices.
The glove example is important.
Products such as gloves can have enormous unit volumes but relatively limited differentiation. That means manufacturers and distributors must constantly manage sourcing costs, pricing and production efficiency.
Owens & Minor’s vertically integrated model gives it another way to compete: controlling more of the journey from manufacturing and sourcing to distribution.
How Is McKesson Building Scale Through Medical-Surgical Products?
McKesson is one of the largest healthcare distribution companies, but its Medical-Surgical Solutions business provides a useful view of the disposable-products segment.
For fiscal 2025, McKesson reported $11.39 billion in Medical-Surgical Solutions revenue, compared with $11.31 billion in fiscal 2024. Segment operating profit was $773 million, down from $952 million.
The numbers show an important difference between scale and profitability.
McKesson’s enormous distribution infrastructure gives it access to healthcare providers, but the medical-surgical business also faces pressure from costs, product mix and pricing.
Its competitive strength therefore comes largely from relationships and distribution reach rather than relying exclusively on manufacturing.
This makes McKesson particularly relevant to the medical disposables sector because hospitals often need dependable access to thousands of routine products rather than a small number of high-value devices.
What Makes BD Different From Traditional Disposable-Supply Companies?
Becton, Dickinson and Company, better known as BD, has a more technology-driven portfolio.
Its Medical segment includes medication delivery, medication management, pharmaceutical systems and advanced patient monitoring. In fiscal 2025, Medical generated $11.46 billion in revenue, compared with $10.07 billion in 2024.
Medication Delivery Solutions generated $4.58 billion, while Medication Management Solutions generated $3.47 billion.
BD’s strength is that many of its products sit directly inside clinical workflows. Syringes, injection-related products, medication-delivery systems and other disposable or semi-disposable components are not simply inventory items; they are connected to how medications are prepared and administered.
That creates a different competitive advantage.
While companies such as Medline and McKesson can compete heavily through breadth and distribution, BD can compete through clinical integration, product engineering and technology.
Why Is Solventum Important for Infection Prevention and Surgical Products?
Solventum became an independent healthcare company following its separation from 3M, giving it a portfolio strongly connected to healthcare products and clinical workflows.
In 2025, Solventum’s MedSurg sales increased 3.9%, with organic growth driven by volumes in Infection Prevention and Surgical Solutions. The company also reported growth in Advanced Wound Care, particularly from negative-pressure wound therapy.
This is significant because it demonstrates where product differentiation can create opportunities beyond basic consumables.
Infection prevention, surgical products and advanced wound care require greater clinical functionality than conventional commodity supplies.
For companies operating in this space, the opportunity is therefore not simply increasing the number of products sold. It is developing products that become part of established clinical procedures.
What Does Thermo Fisher Reveal About the Broader Disposable-Products Ecosystem?
Thermo Fisher Scientific represents another side of the industry.
Its portfolio extends across laboratory products, diagnostics, bioproduction and life-science consumables. The company supplies products used in biological research, pharmaceutical manufacturing, diagnostics and clinical laboratories. Its bioproduction business also includes single-use solutions used throughout biologics workflows.
Its Laboratory Products and Biopharma Services segment generated $23.98 billion in 2025 revenue, up 4% from 2024.
Thermo Fisher demonstrates how disposable products are expanding beyond traditional hospital supplies.
Single-use technologies can help pharmaceutical and biotechnology manufacturers reduce cleaning requirements, contamination risks and downtime in certain manufacturing processes.
This makes the company relevant to the broader disposable-products ecosystem even though its business is considerably more diversified than traditional medical-surgical suppliers.
What Do These Companies Reveal About the Future of Medical Disposables?
Looking across these companies, I see five different competitive strategies emerging.
Medline is using scale, private-label products and supply-chain integration.
Cardinal Health is working to improve profitability through branded products, volume growth and operational efficiency.
Owens & Minor combines manufacturing, sourcing and distribution.
McKesson uses enormous healthcare distribution relationships to support medical-surgical products.
BD competes through clinical products, medication-delivery technologies and engineering.
Solventum is emphasizing infection prevention, surgical solutions and advanced wound care.
Thermo Fisher shows how single-use technologies are becoming increasingly important in laboratories and biopharmaceutical production.
The bigger picture is that medical disposables are becoming less of a simple volume business. Companies are looking for ways to differentiate through product design, manufacturing control, hospital relationships, logistics, clinical integration and specialized applications.
For healthcare providers, this competition can influence product availability, procurement costs, supply reliability and the adoption of newer single-use technologies.
For investors and industry observers, company performance provides an even more useful signal than headline industry growth. Revenue tells us where demand is moving, but margins, product mix, manufacturing investment and customer retention reveal which companies are actually capturing value from that demand.
Key Company Takeaways
- Medline: $28.4 billion in 2025 sales and exceptional distribution scale.
- Cardinal Health: $12.64 billion GMPD revenue with 47% growth in segment profit.
- Owens & Minor: $8.02 billion Products & Healthcare Services revenue in 2024, supported by manufacturing and distribution.
- McKesson: $11.39 billion Medical-Surgical Solutions revenue in fiscal 2025.
- BD: $11.46 billion Medical revenue in fiscal 2025, supported by medication-delivery and management products.
- Solventum: MedSurg sales grew 3.9% in 2025, led by infection prevention, surgical solutions and wound care.
- Thermo Fisher: $23.98 billion in 2025 Laboratory Products and Biopharma Services revenue, highlighting the growing role of single-use technologies beyond hospitals.
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