Amazon Is Headed For the Prescription-Drug Market, Analysts Say (bloomberg.com) 40
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: Amazon.com Inc. is almost certain to enter the business of selling prescription drugs by 2019, said two analysts at Leerink Partners, posing a direct threat to the U.S.'s biggest brick-and-mortar drugstore chains. "It's a matter of when, not if," Leerink Partners analyst David Larsen said in a report to clients late Thursday. "We expect an announcement within the next 1-2 years." Amazon has a long standing interest in prescription drugs, an industry with multiple middlemen, long supply chains and opaque pricing. In the 1990s, it invested in startup Drugstore.com and Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos sat on the board. Walgreens eventually purchased the site and shuttered it last year to focus on its own branded website Walgreens.com. Leerink's calls with industry experts suggest that Amazon "is in active discussions" with mid-size pharmacy benefit managers and possibly larger player such as Prime Therapeutics, Larsen's colleague, Ana Gupte, wrote in a separate report Friday. On Friday, CNBC reported that Amazon could make a decision about selling prescription drugs online before Thanksgiving.
can't be members only and no extra fee for non-mem (Score:3)
can't be members only and no extra fee for non-members.
So they really can't offer stuff there as prime only.
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Why can’t it? Other member’s clubs like Costco and Sam’s Club already offer prescriptions. There’s no reason Amazon couldn’t provide special pricing to Prime members.
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For Costco and Sam's Club, they can't prohibit entry if you say that you want to go to the pharmacy.
Stolen meds on the way! (Score:2)
Why they bought Whole Foods (Score:1)
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Unless Amazon manufactures the drugs, there will be no disruption. And unless Amazon secures the patents to newer drugs, or invents their own, there will be no major disruption.
I don't see any chance for disruption here (Score:5, Insightful)
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I see a little disruption.
Every time I go to a pharmacy, they make you wait 15-30 minutes after giving them the prescription, to force you to walk around their shop so you might buy more stuff. I would much prefer to get them delivered Amazon style than waste my time at a pharmacy.
However much bigger disruption would happen if you could mail order them from abroad at the much lower prices they are outside the US.
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That would be disruptive, but not something amazon can do. It's illegal and amazon is WAY to big to fly under the radar.
*however*
They ARE big enough to work on forcing through legislation to permit it legally or using other loopholes to legally import those drugs en mass.
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There are already online, mail order pharmacies. So how is it illegal? My own employer insurance tries to push me to use their preferred mail order vendor, I presume because someone is getting a kickback.
The problem with them is that they are incredibly shit in every way so no one wants to use them.
Amazon is demonstrably good at selling and delivering stuff. An online pharmacy that didn't suck would be a good thing.
I welcome our Amazon drug selling overlords. First prescriptions, next recreationals!
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"it's just another seller. Big whoop."
Maybe. You might be right. It'd be like Amazon and the shoe industry, where Amazon doesn't really do much and they are middling.
otoh, there are 2 major tracks they could disrupt--Amaon is also one of the most valuable companies out there that once they get a taste, could go on a buying spree of patents and companies and facilities worldwide. We already saw what Shkreli did, and his funding, knowledge, and points of focus would pale in comparison to a half-assed assau
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The crooked, multi-level, high-markup drug industry deserves disruption.
Not just to play Devil's advocate, but they already have disruption, that's why they do what they do. It effectively plays out like this:
I am (Score:2)
Re: I am (Score:1)
No, I'm tired of my asthma inhaler costing $375 / month ( one inhaler ) without insurance. One of many meds I take daily.
If they can bring the cost down, then I'll happily cheer them on.
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You do realize those things cost what they do because of insurance? If everyone had to pay out of pocket for all this stuff it would have to be affordable, or the company would go out of business when no one buys it. 'Insurance covers it' is why everything pharma-related is so expensive, because it can be. Everyone is paying for this, since insurance spreads the greed out. No I don't have a realistic solution, sorry.
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Most companies to not intend for people to buy their drugs out of pocket and have rebates/coupons/etc. to greatly lower the cost for those who do.
Same thing with the stupid epi pen. The OOP cost is something no individual should ever actually pay. They charge that so insurance companies and institutions fork over big bucks and then they have tons of discounts for individuals. Granted it's still a scam but let's look at the reality, not what insurance companies pay on your behalf.
It does amaze me that the
I can see it now (Score:2)
I can't wait until the first time some guy goes to show his friend something he found on Amazon and is greeted with a section "people with erectile disfunction also often buy...".
Drug maker or seller? (Score:2)
The article talks about Amazon's desire to compete with pharmacies, but the Bloomberg title (echoed verbatim by Slashdot) states Amazon wants to 'enter the prescription drug market'.
That wording is confusing. It implies Amazon wants to make AND sell prescription drugs -- the prescription drug market -- which is only half true.
Why not just say: "Amazon: Your Next Pharmacy"?
Embrace, Expand, (Extinguish), Embrace... (Score:2)
Over the past few years I've watched with a kind of sickened admiration as Amazon has grown from an online bookstore to a purveyor of 'all things'. Really, their expansion to a definitely-not-a-monopoly player within a market, their subsequent embrace of another market, followed by expansion within that market, and so on, is a thing of beauty. In a sense it's been like watching the growth and evolution of a living organism.
One perfect example of this effect hit the news only the other day: After its retail
There's no need (Score:2)
Could have huge benefits (Score:2, Interesting)