Amazon In The Pharmacy Space: Is There Anything To This Beyond The Headlines?

Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN has become known as the everything store. That's why it's no surprise recent reports have stated the company is interested to get into the pharmacy space.

The e-commerce giant is reportedly hiring a business manager to figure out how it can possibly break into the pharmacy market. The announcement is the latest move by the company to push the $1,000 per share levels Amazon is closing in on.

“It appears like Amazon is planning on building an internal PBM for employees, which may get scaled out to the market at a later point,” said Leerink analyst David Larsen.

It's looking like Amazon is starting to get serious about building a presence in healthcare, one more step in the company’s attempt to enter virtually every market possible, although Leerink does not believe it will be an easy market to break into.

“We believe it will be very difficult for Amazon to actually enter into the market without a proven track-record, to compete with CVS Health Corp CVS, Express Scripts Holding Company ESRX and others. The PBM business model is very complex with massive amounts of data; the retail and manufacturing contracts and relationships are vast; and the medical and health programs that the PBMs have in place now have taken decades to develop,” added Leerink.

Difficult markets to break into have never stopped Amazon in the past, but Leerink sees the news as a headline risk for now.

Related Links:

Why Does Amazon Want To Get Into Pharmacy?

Amazon Vs. Alphabet: The Race To $1,000 Per Share

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Posted In: Analyst ColorHealth CareAnalyst RatingsTechTrading IdeasGeneralAmazonDavid LarsenLeerink
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