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Amazon Launches Online Pharmacy Selling Prescription Drugs

On Tuesday, November 17th, the American online retailer Amazon announced the launch of its own online pharmacy, Amazon Pharmacy, which will offer prescription drugs. The new service could become a serious competitor for conventional pharmacy chains, especially since Amazon Prime subscribers will have free shipping and various discounts. In a pandemic, the purchase of drugs with home delivery and in general is becoming more and more popular.

The service will launch in 45 US states this week and will be available in other states later. To purchase prescription drugs in Amazon Pharmacy, users must submit a prescription – it can be sent directly to the service by the doctor himself, or the user can request that the prescription be transferred there from any pharmacy chain where it was submitted earlier. Some drugs that are particularly tightly controlled in the United States will not be available from Amazon Pharmacy, such as many opioids.

Amazon has previously sought to enter the pharmacy market, the total volume of which in the United States is $ 300 billion. Back in 2018, the company bought the online pharmacy PillPack for $ 1 billion, which supplies prescription drugs to patients with chronic diseases. After the launch of Amazon Pharmacy, the shares of many American pharmacy chains fell – at the largest US pharmacy chain Walgreens Boots Alliance by 9%, at CVS Health by 7.3%, and at Rite Aid 3 by 14%. Amazon shares are up 1% today.

Yana Rozhdestvenskaya

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