Amazon is getting into healthcare, and according to Business Insider, stocks from many of the major players in the pharmaceutical industry have already began to take a bit of a nosedive.
According to a review of records by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Amazon has been greenlit for wholesale pharmacy licenses in at least 12 states, including Nevada, Arizona, North Dakota, Louisiana, Alabama, New Jersey, Michigan, Connecticut, Idaho, New Hampshire, Oregon and Tennessee.
Oh, and don’t forget Maine. Their license is still pending.
A source-based report tipped off CNBC earlier this month that Amazon would decide before Thanksgiving whether to move into selling prescription drugs online, though despite the licenses, that doesn’t necessarily mean this is will be true.
Drug supply chain researcher, Nicodemo Fiorentino, stated that Amazon will still need to obtain a pharmacy license, and so they won’t exactly begin shipping prescription drugs or devices directly to consumers. Per Fiorentino, simply seeing the licenses gives us some clues, but it doesn’t paint a whole picture.
What can be said is it is certainly ironic for the Internet giant to assign the licenses on the same day President Trump made an early announcement regarding opioids being a big enough problem to declare a public health emergency.
Not only that, but the Wall Street Journal reported that CVS has offered to buy health-insurance company, Aetna, sending the stock tearing even higher.
It’s not unusual for Amazon to put the competitive squeeze across a sundry of industries. Amazon has been putting to use its expansive reach and logistical muscle to threaten other companies to step up and get more creative in their efforts.
Naturally, with Amazon entering the healthcare industry game, this move threatens companies that ship and sell medicines to consumers.
Amazon’s looming and shadowy presence is already being felt by retailers and companies who sell over the counter drugs. According to Bloomberg, analysts have speculated that Amazon could soon enter the business of selling prescription drugs.
Amazon, however, has remained quiet on the subject, stating that the company does not respond to “rumors and speculation.”
Ashe Segovia is a Staff Writer at The American Genius with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Southwestern University. A huge film nerd with a passion for acting and 80's movies and synthpop; the pop-cultural references are never-ending.
