A third Cardinal Health facility has been barred from distributing controlled substances in a federal investigation into alleged diversion of pharmaceutical orders to illicit online drug sellers.

The latest license suspension went into effect yesterday and affects Cardinal's Swedesboro, N.J., distribution center. In the past two weeks, Cardinal facilities in Auburn, Wash., and Lakeland, Fla., also have been ordered by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to stop distributing drugs such as narcotics until further notice.

After the Lakeland suspension last week, a spokeswoman for the DEA said such moves on the agency's part are "not very common."

Cardinal plans to put one of several new controls in place this month, spokesman Jim Mazzola said. He said a new automated feature is being added to Cardinal's computer systems that will identify and flag order activity that could be unusual.

In a statement last week, Cardinal Chairman and Chief Executive R. Kerry Clark called any laxness in controls "unacceptable" and vowed to "work with the DEA to resolve this matter."

The DEA has not said how long the Cardinal facilities will be barred from dealing in controlled substances.

The company did not make an announcement about the latest license suspension, as it had with the previous two. Mazzola said the reason was that it is part of the same investigation as the other two centers.

Cardinal informed customers of the Swedesboro facility this week of the action, and Mazzola said all customers were being accommodated by the 22 other distribution centers that remain unaffected by the DEA bans.

mrose@dispatch.com