Page 34 - July 2018 Disruption Report

AMAZON EATS EVERYTHING JANJULAYRY20210818
Is Amazon too big?
CAN AMAZON SHIFT THE PHARMACHEUTICAL INDUSTRY’S MODEL?
Wall Street Journal 2
Amazon is integrating its multi-healthcare products and onto an e-commerce platform to hospitals, allowing doctors to “prescribe” bundles of medical supplies for patients that Amazon will deliver
to their homes. This year, Amazon will be piloting this service, headed by the start-up Xealth, at Providence Health System and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in a matter of months. Amazon is expected to tie its PillPack’s online prescription delivery service to this pilot.
Amazon brings to the table a digital platform and cloud storage capability that can support patients’ records, a platform and back end infrastructure that can handle delivery, inventory management and customer returns and a logistics infrastructure that can deliver supplies and drugs to patients quickly. (CB Insights, July 2018; CNBC, Christina Farr, 07/12/18)
“I would argue ...[that] Amazon is conspiring with 600 million consumers, infinitely cheap capital offered by fanatical groupie-like investors, an incredibly deft execution and understanding technology,” said NY Stern’s Scott Galloway. “That they’ve collaborated with all of these entities to basically starch the margin out of brand and retail, and they’re doing it pretty effectively. The winners are consumers, the winners are Amazon shareholders, but the losers are the retail
partnerships with independent pharmacies. Ultimately, Amazon may offer pharma services to self- insured employers and small health plans.
Can Amazon shift this model?
© 2018 by Canfield Press, LLC. All rights reserved. www.canfieldpress.com 34
3