Amazon buys PillPack, an online pharmacy, for just under $1B • Hacker News Board

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

#161

Post by cowpewter » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 6:12 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.

My employer-provided insurance is UHC, which has a preferred partner situation with OptumRX, a mailorder pharmacy. They give you better rates on your prescription copay if you use them. The mail turn-around time is not great though. It's good for long-term prescriptions, shitty for short term like antibiotics.

My doctor sends short term stuff to a local pharmacy for me to pick up, and my daily long term pills to Optum, who charges my CC and mails them to me. They take about a week to arrive, but you can set it up so they automatically recur, so you always get your next 90 days before your current pills run out.

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

#162

Post by drb91 » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 6:12 PM UTC

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…

I don’t see any reason why Amazon would have difficulty here. There’s already regulation in place and generics are designed to be interchangeable—getting an off brand alternative would be a win to the consumer, so long as the choice is clear.

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

#163

Post by thomaslangston » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 6:13 PM UTC

petra wrote: post #73

Aloha wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's likely they'll integrate on the ecommerce side of things, not on the supply chain side anyhow - the economy of scale that amazon has for shipping will be beneficial.

People don't want to buy legal drugs from their UPS guy. EDIT: i'm from outside the US, and after reading all the complains about delivery people throwing packages etc, i thought people don't trust delivery guys enough for medicine. It appears i was wrong.

For pills, I would expect they'll use USPS, not UPS. That's how I get my medicine. It comes in a shipping bag instead of a box or rigid envelope.

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

#164

Post by mehrdadn » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 6:13 PM UTC

jhenkens wrote: post #109

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.

Is it not still shown as "Fullfilled by Amazon" but all grouped under the same product page? I presumed "Sold by Amazon.com" meant procured, shelved, and shipped directly via Amazon.com, none of this third party fulfillment crap.

I want to know this too. "Fulfilled by Amazon" to me sounds very different than sold by Amazon.

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

#165

Post by dognotdog » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 6:17 PM UTC

lozaning wrote: post #152

dwild wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I can confirm this as someone who used to do 6 figures plus of business on amazon every quarter. Unless I mark that I dont want my inventory commingled (which is an option more expensive than general FBA) once my product shows up at the various warehouses it's dumped into a bin along with everyone else who sent in the same part in for FBA fulfillment. I got all my product from HP via Synnex, all factory sealed brand…

Commingling is certainly something I wasn't aware of, it looks as if most consumers are in the same boat.

The idea that FBA doesn't actually get me parts from the seller I picked has never crossed my mind. I certainly wouldn't have bought quite a few things if I knew that possibility existed.

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

#166

Post by adventured » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 6:23 PM UTC

sidcool wrote: post #11

This is huge. If I were into pharma business I would be very worried for my business.

It's not huge. Walmart, which is even more competitive on pricing in retail than Amazon, entered the pharma prescription business many years ago. They deployed pharmacies to over three thousand physical stores and are the third or fourth largest pharmacy in the US. Amazon will have no greater impact than what Walmart did.

How did Walmart impact CVS and Walgreens? Both continued getting larger. Maybe Amazon will drain some or most of the remaining growth in the segment by taking a slice of market share. More likely it'll just end up being an expensive, terrible business that struggles, like most of Amazon's ventures (they fail far more often than they succeed).

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

#167

Post by simonsarris » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 6:26 PM UTC

pm90 wrote: post #155

simonsarris wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had wondered that. Disclaimer, I'm long SQ. If you're following AMZN, SQ, or PYPL, you probably saw the headlines back in April: Amazon's Next Mission: Using Alexa to Help You Pay Friends Firm looks to make voice commands the next wave of commerce SQ and PYPL took a small dive on this news, even though at face value, its quite silly. Amazon would probably have a much better time trying to buy PayPal for Venmo or Sq…

Its hard to discern what they were thinking of. But I feel like you are overthinking it. Having worked at companies of all sizes, many products are often some executives' pet project to make a splash and other execs just let them do what they want if they're not fucking up other shit too much or taking much needed resources away from other things. Many of the failed ventures may just have been a result of that.

I think that's a good counterpoint.

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

#168

Post by finnthehuman » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 6:27 PM UTC

Large parts of PillPack were being mismanaged into the ground, I trust Amazon can fix them but at the same time my first reaction to the news was to text my non-programmer-or-management friends there about when they’re quitting.

If Amazon’s warehouses or Whole Foods are any indication of how they’ll approach the unavoidable human work involved at a pharmacy, I have serious doubts about the quality of service. And pill pack is already in a pretty sorry state.

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

#169

Post by reaperducer » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 6:28 PM UTC

vkou wrote: post #106

petra wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People don't want to buy legal drugs from their UPS guy. EDIT: i'm from outside the US, and after reading all the complains about delivery people throwing packages etc, i thought people don't trust delivery guys enough for medicine. It appears i was wrong.

My partner buys legal drugs from her pharmacy. Half the friggin time, there's some supply problem on the back-end, and she can't get her drugs in time. Anyone who could fix this problem will get her business in a heartbeat.

Ditto. I detest Walgreens because of its invasive marketing and spamming, but I use it because CVS in my area can't keep even basic meds in stock.

I'll be among the first to switch to AmazonRx.

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

#170

Post by vedtopkar » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 6:29 PM UTC

PillPack and other services like it can be life-saving. I'm only a second year medical student and I already can't count the number of conversations I've had with (especially elderly) patients about concerns regarding med adherence when burdened with a large number of prescriptions.