Source: Sharecast
The pharmacy start-up company, which will come under Amazon’s ownership in the second half of the year, is designed to cater to customers who require daily prescription medication and thus offers pre-sorted dose packaging, coordinates refills, and handles shipments.
It was reported that Amazon would pay around $1bn and had edged out offline rival WalMart in bagging the deal.
The Pillpack deal is Amazon’s latest foray into healthcare and follows a January announcement that the company would collaborate with JPMorgan and Berkshire Hathaway to reduce healthcare costs for US workers.
The trio said they wanted to improve healthcare costs not just for their own employees, but "potentially all Americans".
Jeff Wilke, chief executive of Amazon’s worldwide consumer division, said: "PillPack’s visionary team has a combination of deep pharmacy experience and a focus on technology. PillPack is meaningfully improving its customers' lives, and we want to help them continue making it easy for people to save time, simplify their lives, and feel healthier."
In reaction to the news, shares in Walgreens Boots Alliance dropped by 8.2%, CVS Health’s shares fell by 6.8% and pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts saw its shares decline by 2.4%.
Earlier, the online retailer has revealed intentions to take on delivery giants like FedEx, UPS and DHL with a 'last mile' delivery service made up of independent courier start-ups donning the Amazon brand with up to 40 vans and 100 drivers apiece.
Dave Clark, Amazon’s senior vice president of worldwide operations, said: "A 40-vehicle fleet could earn as much as $300,000 a year in profits."
Designed to tackle the issue of delivering packages the final mile to customer’s homes, algorithms will be used to determine the most efficient routes and tactics for individual parcel delivery.
As of 1449 BST, Amazon.com’s shares were up 0.53% at $1,669.38.