Amazon is currently pursuing efforts to break into the on-site pharmacy business in the US. According to the US business magazine „Business Insider,“ the mail-order giant with a current enterprise value of 1.6 trillion US dollars wants to either locate sites for pharmacies there, including in Boston and Phoenix, or like Walmart, open small pharmacies within the Whole Foods stores they have acquired, a grocery retailer. However, there are only 350 Whole Foods stores in the U.S., so only sporadic Amazon presence pharmacies could be opened. In contrast, CVS/Walgreens already has 9,000 stores, excluding Rite Aid.
With prescription drugs, however, the giant is trying to expand the market because, in 2018, Amazon already acquired the blister business of „PillPack.“ „Amazon Pharmacy,“ Amazon’s mail-order sector of the healthcare market, does not appeal to certain patient groups, however, which could then be won over by on-site pharmacies, according to the allegedly vague and uncommented plan of three Amazon executives.
Testing new strategies in the incremental and piecemeal expansion of the U.S. healthcare market may quickly push the company to its limits, industry insiders suggest. Massive costs and difficult legal requirements could doom the mail-order giant’s plans. The prospects for success are also questionable because Amazon would have to invest too heavily in pharmacy staff. In addition, 200 prescriptions a day are needed to cover costs. In addition, local competitors also have to be considered.
Amazon is now trying to penetrate the market by any means necessary. In 2018, in addition to PillPack, it also made attempts to conquer the U.S. insurance market to also cover the care of patients in hospitals there. Amazon has also had a hand in the area of „pharmacy benefit managers,“ who negotiate discount contracts, but then failed because CVS took legal action against Amazon after the mail-order company wanted to bring a former top manager from CVS on board.
In 2019, „Health Navigator“ (a platform with tools that provide telemedicine support to patients) was purchased because areas such as telemedicine applications, mail order, and Amazon’s health insurance business are to be better connected via common standardized and integrated interfaces.
Source: www.apotheke-adhoc.de