ZEENAT MOORAD: Disrupter-in-chief Amazon packs a big punch
Amazon has bought online pharmacy PillPack, a deal that gives it a go at luring shoppers away from local pharmacies
Leave it to Amazon to cast a blanket of anxiety over the US health-care industry. For those who haven’t heard, the disrupter-in-chief has bought PillPack, an online pharmacy. Most immediately, the deal gives Amazon a go at luring shoppers away from local pharmacies and, by extension, bags all the extra purchases that would potentially come with the trip. What PillPack does is distribute tablets in easy-to-use packages for consumers with chronic conditions and multiple prescriptions. Prescriptions are sorted by dose and include a label with a picture of each tablet and directions on how it should be taken. The packages are then delivered to the homes of patients. It’s a pretty cool system that uses proprietary software to automate many of the traditional or manual tasks that pharmacists are often saddled with, like verifying when a refill is due or confirming health insurance (that’s medical aid to you and me). Analysts have been speculating for years about Amazon’s plans to get into...
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