And so it begins....
- Amazon says it's acquiring online pharmacy PillPack in a deal that could disrupt the U.S. drugstore business.
- PillPack packages, organizes and delivers drugs. It sends consumers packages with the specific number of medications they're supposed to take at specific times
Amazon is acquiring online pharmacy PillPack in a deal that is already shaking up the drugstore industry.
The move is the strongest indication yet of Amazon's intent to push further into the health-care industry. It threatens to remove one of the few distinguishing factors pharmacy chains have relied on to fend off Amazon, the sale of prescription drugs. Retailers like Walgreens Boots Alliance, CVS Health and Rite Aid have seen their so-called front of store sales threatened as shoppers increasingly buy household staples online or from convenience stores.
PillPack, which organizes and delivers packages of medications for consumers, is licensed to ship prescriptions in 49 states, according to its website.
"Yes, it's a declaration of intent from Amazon," Walgreens Boots Alliance CEO Stefano Pessina acknowledged to analysts in a planned call to discuss its quarterly earnings, according to an initial transcript from FactSet. "[But] the pharmacy world is much more complex than the delivery of a certain [pills or] packages."