Amazon buys PillPack, an online pharmacy, for just under $1B

Post by wjp3 » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 5:20 PM UTC

snissn wrote: post #110

harshaw wrote: post #81

I interviewed at Pillpack years ago and was very impressed but didn't get the gig. They seemed to be solving a great problem for customers using multiple medicines. I am not sure the solution works well for the millions of us taking one pill every night, e.g the "pillpack" is wasteful. It also doesn't address this really annoying problem I have getting my daughter's ADD meds. These require a paper prescription that m…

> for the millions of us taking one pill every night, e.g the "pillpack" is wasteful. Does the pillpack have a separate pack for each day with the date clearly labeled? If so I feel that would help a lot with adherence, which in my opinion is a serious problem

Post by ProAm » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 5:22 PM UTC

pen2l wrote: post #79

tombrossman wrote: post #18

This is interesting because Amazon isn't exactly known for supply chain integrity. Who here hasn't received fakes from Amazon? If you rely on a specific medication for your health, is Amazon a brand you trust to deliver it? How long until they start commingling pills and shipping random counterfeit/fake product to users? Hope it never happens but if they do with pharmaceuticals what they did with everything else they…

> This is interesting because Amazon isn't exactly known for supply chain integrity. The supply chain integrity problems were allowed by Amazon because it benefited their bottom line. If they wanted it perfect, they could have made it perfect. Remember when the eclipse was happening and they actually did a pretty good job of removing all glasses which weren't safe? They know where integrity counts, and I think when i…

Post by whatok » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 5:25 PM UTC

prepend wrote: post #116

whatok wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At a previous employer, I attended a briefing for our health insurance switching to a mail order pharmacy. Granted this was years ago but the amount of confusion and frustration around the signup process, scheduling, skepticism about delivery times/reliability, etc were numerous. To me, it couldn't have been an easier process. For some people (especially retirees), going to the local pharmacy is part of a regular rou…

I don’t get many prescriptions so when my doc writes one I don’t care who fills it. She couldn’t send it to a random mail order pharmacy, I had to pick one. I think there’s a big opportunity for insurers to pick a default mail pharmacy that customers out of. So depending on your insurer, the EMR automatically files with a pharmacy you don’t care about and mails it to you within 24 hours.

Post by skybrian » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 5:28 PM UTC

samatman wrote: post #44

skybrian wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just as a data point, I don't believe I've gotten a fake from Amazon.

This is not a useful data point, because there is a much larger set that this doesn't meaningfully contribute to.

Post by notatoad » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 5:30 PM UTC

dwild wrote: post #132

treis wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that inventory from different sellers is commingled unless the seller pays extra. So Amazon's controllers are in the same bin as the ones from Real Good Fakes Inc. Even if you buy from Amazon the actual product you get might have been supplied by Real Good Fakes.

Source? That doesn't make sense. They would then need to make sure "Real Good Fakes" products are cheaper than what they send... At anytime "Real Good Fakes" can ask for his stuff back and that has to be "Real Good Fakes" stuff or there may be a big problem (used vs refurbished vs new). They automate everything, there's no way there's no barcode for this kind of thing.