As the online portal Finanznachrichten.de reports, the big American pharmacy chains Walgreens and CVS Health are getting more and more competition from the online giant Amazon, which has also taken away former customers who now redeem prescriptions with prescription drugs there. Walgreens has already reacted to the powerful competition and plans to develop and expand many of the US chain’s branches into healthcare providers via affiliated medical practices and build medical centres for this purpose. For the deal, Walgreens Boots Alliance, as the continued leading pharmacy chain in North America, has brought the primary care provider VillageMD on board and made them an enticing offer. According to the deal, Walgreens wants to provide the start-up from the city of Chicago, VillageMD, with one billion dollars over the next three years if Walgreens receives a 30 percent share in return. The Chicago-based company has already built up a network of over 2,800 doctors, as the financial portal Finanznachrichten.de claims to have found out. Walgreens wants to win back customers with Rx prescriptions in this way and also gain new ones because sales have fallen due to falling revenues caused by the loss of prescription drugs after these accounted for a large part of the sales of Walgreens Boot Alliance. An expansion of 500 to 700 pharmacies, including medical centres, is something Walgreens could well imagine in order to fight its rival Amazon.de. The treatment centres could then mainly serve people with chronic diseases who receive very expensive drugs
