Amazon Buys PillPack, an Online Pharmacy, For Just Under $1 Billion (techcrunch.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: A week after appointing a CEO for its healthcare joint venture with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan, Amazon today announced an acquisition that underscores how it also hopes to have a more direct -- and more commercial -- role in the world of healthcare in the coming years. The company has purchased PillPack, an online pharmacy the lets users buy medications in pre-made doses. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed by Amazon, but sources close to the deal say it was for just under $1 billion.

PillPack has a license to operate in all 50 states in the U.S. and has other accreditations such as URAC AND VIPPS, but it doesn't seem to be operational in international markets. Its PharmacyOS -- the system it has built that forms the basis of the company -- is a platform that helps manage patient data and figure out how to balance meds together in safe doses for its customers.

Comments

Re:Walgreens and Rite-Aid should be worried

[EvilSS]

Well their stocks sure are. CVS, Walgreens, and Rite-Aid stocks all dropped after the news.

Just what we needed

[ausekilis]

Cheap knock-off drugs posing as the real-deal.
I can see the reviews now: "This pill is slightly blue-er than my typical prescription. Normally I just spend the afternoon having full conversations with my dog. This time I he actually talked back! Added bonus the lawn was on fire and walls were swirling. 3 stars."

Re:Just what we needed

[Kulahan]

Off-brand medication is the better choice nearly 100% of the time. The active ingredient is what you're buying. So long as it has the same amount per dose, and the same delivery method (gel capsule, pill, injection, etc.), the effect will be the same. So yes, cheap knockoff medicine is *exactly* what we need.

Re:Just what we needed

[OverlordQ]

That's not all of it. Occasionally people have reactions to the non-active ingredients in generics so there is a purpose to still prescribing the on-brand versions.

Re:That's old news already.

[crow]

The big news would be if they bought a generic drug manufacturer.

Jeff Bezos is going to go to outer space too...

[decep]

He's just not going to use a spaceship to get there.

Re:Walgreens and Rite-Aid should be worried

[alvinrod]

Amazon could probably buy up spaces in malls or other retail locations that have gone out of business over the last several years and create shipping centers where people can pick up shipments if they can't reliably get it at home. Either that or they just store stuff there and do last mile deliveries themselves during the hours that people are actually home. There're plenty of people who want to be Uber drivers during those hours, so I could see Amazon being able to find people willing to do the work.

That's not really the problem

[rsilvergun]

it's an actual pharmacy. It'll be heavily regulated. The issue is Amazon's taking over. Eventually they'll run everything out of business and when they do they'll jack up the prices. If we were a sane country we'd respond with regulation but, well, Americans are nuts.

Re:Walgreens and Rite-Aid should be worried

[Zontar The Mindless]

Yeah... and after that, they could just start storing the goods they have for sale in those spaces, where people could actually come and look at them and maybe even try them out before making their purchases.

I think you might be on to something here!