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

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

#221

Post by ascorbic » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 8:48 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…

There's no way they'll allow third-party sellers or co-mingled inventory, which are the source of the supply chain issues.

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

#222

Post by r00fus » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 8:50 PM UTC

joeax wrote: post #98

simonsarris wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the time. They tried to make a move into retail registers to compete with Square, and failed. They shuttered Amazon register in 2015: https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/10/30/amazon-shutting-do... They tried to take on Etsy with Amazon Handmade which bombed Etsy stock, but Handmade has gone pretty much nowhere, except some re-branding this year. People just forget Amazon's failed ventures, even fairly high profi…

+ I'm wary of Amazon Grocery. We had a bad experience with home delivery 10 years ago and my wife refuses to do it again. For packaged goods and non-perishables it's fine, but with fresh meats and produce it's hit and miss. It may not be failure but I doubt it will kill or disrupt the grocery business.

Amazon Fresh - I was really down on the idea, but they do a decent job - better than the alternatives in my limited experience with them.

Items are well packed but not excessively (Google Express once sent me a bubble-wrapped bottle in a giant box for when I just ordered peanut butter - talk about waste).

Frozen items have cooling packs that are reusable and recyclable (pure ice + plastic skin) - and (this was actually useful) frozen drinking water bottles (useful packaging!)

The quality of the groceries were good. Unlike Safeway where sometimes I got what looked like older veggies.

My (more extensive) experiences with both Google Express and Safeway were inferior in little ways. I want to hate Amazon, but they're doing great for grocery delivery.

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

#223

Post by victor106 » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 8:52 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…

Great point. I work in the pharmacy space and most of the cost is meeting regulations. Other than for the most common medications there are regulations for most all drugs. Add to that the complexity of drug delivery (some medications need to be cold, have tight expiration dates etc.,) its very hard to push down the prices like they have done in other areas.

I would love for Amazon to come in and transform this space. There are lot of improvements to be made but all the well established players know those improvements but unless the regulations catch up its hard to innovate.

One thing Amazon might be able to do is to take a hit to their bottom line by essentially selling drugs at a loss and wait it out till they drive everyone out of the market and increase prices. But no one cares when the price of a book/toy increases by x%. Everyone cares when the price of a drug increases by the same amount. (https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/03/mylan-hit-with-racketeering-...)

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

#224

Post by miles » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 8:57 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.

> Source?

https://www.inc.com/sonya-mann/amazon-counterfeits-no-starch...

Shipped and sold by Amazon.com means that the product is shipped and sold by Amazon Retail (via Vendor Central or Vendor Express) directly. Basically, the manufacturer sends product to Amazon.com at a set price through a traditional PO process. This inventory is commingled with all other FBA inventory.

...

Richard added, "[T]he consumer always thinks the chain is: Manufacturer » Amazon » Me. But the reality is that is pretty much never guaranteed. The only way that's guaranteed is if you find the manufacturer's listing on Amazon.com and buy via [F]ulfilled by Amazon directly from them, AND they happen to choose to opt out of commingled inventory. In every other scenario there's a chance that you get inventory that didn't come from the manufacturer."

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

#225

Post by supertrope » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 9:12 PM UTC

jtchang wrote: post #35

Hopefully Amazon will be able to get rid of express scripts. They are the ultimate middleman sucking both pharmaceutical companies and consumers dry.

Why are you sympathizing with pharmaceutical megacorporations that are able to raise the price of medications faster than inflation (e.g. 8%)?

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

#226

Post by supertrope » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 9:14 PM UTC

egyptiankarim wrote: post #145

I wonder if Amazon hopes to eventually get into manufacturing of pharmaceuticals. How long before we start to see AmazonBasics versions of Aspirin?

That doesn't seem especially profitable nor a core competency of AMZN. When you see a store branded bottle of ibuprofen, it's just a re-label of their contract manufacturer's pills.

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

#227

Post by supertrope » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 9:16 PM UTC

ck2 wrote: post #204

ah the power of extracting money from health insurance if people were paying out of pocket these kinds of markup could not survive fun fact: thanks to lobbyists and congress, it is illegal under federal law for a pharmacist to voluntarily tell you it cheaper to pay cash than use your insurance co-pay, you have to know to ask

Which law? Plenty of medical workers will tell you to take advantage of $4/month generic deals, especially if a significant proportion of patient populations is disadvantaged.

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

#228

Post by supertrope » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 9:20 PM UTC

elahd wrote: post #194

md224 wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s weird... I live in NYC and get my Vyvanse prescription delivered by Capsule. Haven’t had to drop off a paper prescription in years. Different local laws? Or maybe it’s because she’s a minor? That sounds frustrating, sorry you have to deal with that. P.S. While we’re on the topic, if anyone’s interested in a libertarian perspective, check out Jessica Flanigan’s 2012 JME paper “Three arguments against prescripti…

With a few exceptions, paper prescriptions have been outlawed in New York State. Everything is electronic now.

Finally. No more important artifact that can be lost, forged, or written on with horrible handwriting. Phoning home to a database is much harder to fake than a paper document with security features like watermark, hologram, microprinting, etc. Is this even for schedule II meds?

As a bonus, the pharmacy team usually has the meds ready by the time I arrive instead of needing to make a second visit or waiting after handing off the slip.

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

#229

Post by jeherr » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 9:23 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…

This is a very ill-informed opinion. The supply chain is very strictly regulated for pharmaceutical medications.

Do you really think that Amazon can get their stock medications from just anyone? Do you think there is no oversight on this kind of thing? The DEA doesn't fuck around. They take all of this stuff very seriously.

Commingling medications? Really? In a pharmacy, medications are NEVER allowed to be commingled. If your medication is coming from two different manufacturers, or even the same manufacturer but the pills just look different, the pharmacy must put them in two different bottles to give to you. Stock bottle are not allowed to be mixed together. Ever heard of a recall on medications? That is exactly why. When a recall happens, they need tedious records of where every pill went.

When a prescriptions for a schedule II drug is filled, the pharmacy technician has to count the number of pills being filled twice. Then the pharmacist has to count the number of pills, and then backcount the stock bottle to make sure everything is kosher and no pills are missing.

I understand not everyone knows everything about the pharmaceutical industry, my wife is a pharmacist is the reason I know as much as I do, but to think that there is that little oversight on pharmaceuticals is ludicrous.

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

#230

Post by dragonwriter » Thu, Jun 28, 2018, 9:31 PM UTC

mehrdadn wrote: post #164

jhenkens wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

FBA and Sold By Amazon are commingled (unless the FBA seller pays for it not to be; Amazon doesn't segregate SBA because the commingling is part of Amazon's logistical efficiencies, which is why it costs money for sellers to opt out of it.)