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Amazon gains wholesale pharmacy licenses in multiple states

stltoday.com

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Re: Amazon gains wholesale pharmacy licenses in multiple states

#21

Post by Waterluvian »

wonder_bread wrote: post #19
darawk wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon doesn't need to make money on it, though. They just want to dominate every aspect of everyone's retail existence. I'm sure they're perfectly happy to make zero profit for a long while and figure it out later, when they're the only ones left in business.

It’s amazing to watch all this happen on the consumer end but how many more industries can they really do this to? Is Bezos not essentially setting up his successor for failure by turning Amazon into a conglomerate with razor margins in so many areas?

This is the thing that I don't understand about the big companies like Google, Apple, Amazon. What's the endgame? Do you just keep going until you accidentally implode? It's not like there is a finish line they can cross to "win the game". It just goes on forever until something implodes.

Re: Amazon gains wholesale pharmacy licenses in multiple states

#22

Post by revel »

burntrelish1273 wrote: post #18

Maybe to compete against Express Scripts and drugs stores, to a degree, but a by-mail pharmacy has a very steep hill to climb in terms of in-person/telepresence pharmacist expertise.

Express Scripts is primarily a PBM. It's not the same business

Re: Amazon gains wholesale pharmacy licenses in multiple states

#23

Post by rs999gti »

dmead wrote: post #5

sounds bad for the opioid problem

State laws for initial and subsequent RX for opioids and other schedule 2 drugs are very strict -

https://www.njafp.org/content/new-prescribing-law-treatment-...

I doubt Amazon will want to deal with the laws surrounding their dispensing. According to that NJ law you have to be a documented cancer patient or worse to get any leeway around how drugs are dispensed or prescribed to you.

Re: Amazon gains wholesale pharmacy licenses in multiple states

#25

Post by rs999gti »

CommentCard wrote: post #11
dmead wrote: post #5

sounds bad for the opioid problem

That's a doctor issue, not a pharmacy issue. Although they're probably going to need some warehouses with higher clearance levels / restricted access to do this. I'm all for Amazon filling prescriptions, healthcare is hugely inefficient and any bargaining power Amazon can wrestle away from pharmaceutical companies probably won't negatively impact the consumer.

> I'm all for Amazon filling prescriptions, healthcare is hugely inefficient and any bargaining power Amazon can wrestle away from pharmaceutical companies probably won't negatively impact the consumer.

I doubt RX prices will decrease if Amazon enters the market. Wal-Mart, Costco, and Express Scripts buy, warehouse, and dispense millions of drugs to patient members and drugs prices have barely moved.

Re: Amazon gains wholesale pharmacy licenses in multiple states

#26

Post by oh_sigh »

billmalarky wrote: post #20
mrep wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> razor thin margins That's everything amazon does besides AWS

Yeah razor thin margins is barrier to entry that amazon sees as an opportunity not a threat.

Not exactly - Amazon has traditionally entered spaces with...not exactly razor thing margins, but margins with some wiggle room. Even their grocery play was on 'higher end' groceries and not a razor thin market like Acme/Shop Rite/Kroegers.

Re: Amazon gains wholesale pharmacy licenses in multiple states

#28

Post by bm1362 »

Waterluvian wrote: post #21
wonder_bread wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s amazing to watch all this happen on the consumer end but how many more industries can they really do this to? Is Bezos not essentially setting up his successor for failure by turning Amazon into a conglomerate with razor margins in so many areas?

This is the thing that I don't understand about the big companies like Google, Apple, Amazon. What's the endgame? Do you just keep going until you accidentally implode? It's not like there is a finish line they can cross to "win the game". It just goes on forever until something implodes.

It literally just (1) keeps printing money for investors and (2) keep some people employed. Ambitious people will take the mantle every 15-20 years and do more of 1 and 2 until they make a mistake.

The goal of a successful company is basically serving those two sets of people, Google may enter the retail market or real estate, or McDonalds will take over Cloud Computing -- they're all just trying to get a consistent return.

Re: Amazon gains wholesale pharmacy licenses in multiple states

#30

Post by bm1362 »

oh_sigh wrote: post #27
teddyh wrote: post #15

Just think of all the interesting data they will aggregate!

HIPAA would like to have a word with you.

> "It'd be cool if you kept that data encrypted at rest and kept track of every time it's accessed. Oh, you guys have a physical form everyone fills out when they access files? Perfect." - HIPAA in practice
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