There might come a time when you can order prescription meds with household items and groceries from Amazon. According to CNBC, the e-retail giant is thinking of breaking into the pharmacy business, and it will have to decide if it wants to push through with it before Thanksgiving. Eric French, Amazon's grocery and Pantry chief, reportedly ramped up hiring for the project dubbed "healthcare" this past year and consulted with "dozens of people."
CNBC reported a few months ago that the company even hired Mark Lyons from nonprofit health insurance company Premera Blue Cross to create an internal pharmacy benefit manager to serve its employees. It's apparently possible for that project's success to determine whether Amazon will launch its pharmacy business.
While the retail titan is in the final stages of conjuring up a viable strategy for the new business, it won't be delivering meds to your home anytime soon. In case it does decide to push through, it has to hire drug supply chain experts to add to the team before it can do anything. Some analysts think it'll take a year or two before the company can announce the new venture, and it could initially team up with a pharmacy benefits manager instead of going straight for drug delivery.
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