Mercy Investment Services has withdrawn a shareholder proposal at Cardinal Health Inc. after the company agreed to disclose the measures its board is taking to monitor and manage financial and reputational risks related to the U.S. opioid crisis, given its role as an opioid distributor, a news release from the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility said Thursday.
Mercy is a member of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. The proposal's other filers included Denise L. Nappier, state treasurer and principal fiduciary of the $34 billion Connecticut Retirement Plans & Trust Funds, Hartford, and New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, sole trustee of the $206.9 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund, Albany.
Along with agreeing to provide investors with reports of "two board-level investigations into allegations of oversight failures related to opioid distribution," Cardinal's board formed an ad hoc committee on opioid business risks, the release said.
The proposal at Cardinal Health was one of several opioid risk shareholder proposals filed by the Investors for Opioid Accountability this proxy season. The group's proposal at Depomed Inc. was supported by 61% of investors in May.
Mercy Investments Services, Ms. Nappier and Mr. DiNapoli are among the group's members.
Cardinal's annual shareholder meeting is expected to take place later this year.
A Cardinal Health spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.
