Amazon Also Wants To Sell You (Prescription) Drugs

When Amazon executives look around their virtual store, we imagine they must be tapping their chins and thinking, “Hmm, what else do people want?” The company already sells everything from books to riding mowers, and now, it’s reportedly getting very serious about the idea of expanding into the pharmacy business.

According to CNBC, the gears are turning over at Amazon: Insiders say the tech giant is hiring a business lead to help it make its pharmacy dreams come true, and get a slice of that multibillion-dollar market.

Along with stepped up recruitment efforts, Amazon has started selling medical supplies and equipment here to satisfy regulatory requirements.

Sources tell CNBC that Amazon has been thinking about this for some time now, as it’s held at least one annual meeting in the last few years to discuss the idea. This year is different, with factors like the looming changes in the healthcare industry, and an increase in high-deductible plans.

Of course, Amazon’s plan to sell prescription drugs in America may never become a reality.

Amazon declined to comment for CNBC’s story.

The company has flirted with the pharmacy industry in the past, CNBC notes: Way back in the late ‘90s when it backed Drugstore.com, there were rumors that Amazon would eventually move into the prescription and over-the-counter drug market. Instead, Walgreens bought the site, and ended up closing its virtual doors in 2016.

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist