By Liz Young and Billy Gray

DHL is boosting its healthcare logistics business with its latest acquisition.

DHL Supply Chain, a division of German logistics giant Deutsche Post DHL Group, said Tuesday it will acquire healthcare logistics provider SDS Rx for an undisclosed sum.

Tampa, Fla.-based SDS Rx handles final-mile delivery and specialized healthcare transportation for long-term-care facilities and specialty pharmacies, radiopharmacies and health system networks across the U.S.

Mark Kunar, chief executive of DHL Supply Chain North America, said the company sees healthcare transportation and distribution services as a growing market.

"We want to make sure that as companies and hospitals think about what their logistics requirements are going forward, that they can hand some of those requirements over to us," Kunar said.

The deal is DHL's second healthcare acquisition this year. The company in March acquired CryoPDP, a specialty courier focused on clinical trials, biopharmaceuticals, and cell and gene therapies.

Other logistics providers have made acquisitions in the sector as well. United Parcel Service in January completed the acquisition of healthcare-logistics providers Frigo-Trans and BPL and in April said it would buy Canada's Andlauer Healthcare for roughly $1.6 billion.

Corwin Hee, an analyst at research firm Gartner, said pharmaceutical manufacturers have been developing increasingly specialized drugs that often need to be kept cold during transport or delivered within a short time frame. Logistics providers such as DHL are looking to step in to handle those complex deliveries.

"The costs are higher [for complicated healthcare deliveries], but the margins could also be higher because of that," Hee said.

Specialty pharmacies handling complex and expensive medicines for serious or rare diseases account for about half of U.S. prescription drug spending, and the number of patients they serve grew 12% between 2018 and 2022, according to DHL.

Write to Liz Young at liz.young@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 09, 2025 17:02 ET (21:02 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.