In a previous note, I discussed how CVS was fighting back against its retail drug competitor Amazon-PillPack by slow-walking its prescription transfers to PillPack when requested by customers (see: Resistance to PillPack's Requests for Prescription Transfers from Retail Drug Stores). Here's a quote from my blog note about CVS's response:
CVS certainly can't be counted out of this battle yet on the basis of pressure from PillPack and its web competitors (ExactCare Pharmacy, Remedi SeniorCare, PharmaPoint, Blink Health and PipelineRx). For example, CVS has announced same-day home delivery of drugs (see: CVS to offer customers same-day delivery for prescriptions). With its current retail pharmacy operation, consultation with pharmacists is [also] possible.
It turns out that PillPack still has some tricks up its sleeve; it's attempting to morph into a PBM to compete with CVS's Caremark (see: Amazon Wants To Cut PBMs Out Of Drug Sales Pipeline By Contracting Directly With Health Plans, Employers). Here is quote from this article with more details:
Court documents in a case about personnel revealed the strategy that many in the industry fear. Amazon is seeking to contract directly with health plans and employers to sell prescription drugs through its PillPack subsidiary, a move that would cut out existing pharmacy benefit managers and potentially reshape the sale and distribution of medicines in the U.S.....The revelations are contained in a lawsuit CVS filed in April seeking to prevent one of its former executives from taking a job at PillPack, an online pharmacy based in New Hampshire. In its complaint, CVS notes that Amazon-PillPack has “already begun aggressively approaching CVS Caremark’s clients,” including Blue Cross Blue Shield, “to provide its members with prescription home delivery.”
In order to understand how serious a PBM initiative will be from Amazon-PillPack, it's also important to understand the recent growth of Amazon Logistics which will be mainly responsible for drug home deliveries. Here's an article on this topic (see: Amazon Will Deliver More Packages Than UPS or FedEx by 2022) and below is an excerpt from the article:
Amazon...is already delivering more of its own packages than its delivery partners like UPS...or USPS. At the pace it's growing, it'll be delivering more packages total than either UPS or FedEx...in just a few years. The online retail giant is delivering around half of its own packages through Amazon Logistics....Amazon will make about 6.5 billion deliveries in 2022, up from 2.5 billion this year....That compares to 5 billion deliveries and 3.4 billion deliveries that year for UPS and FedEx, respectively.
It seems clear to me that the Amazon attack on big box retail stores is now pointed toward the PBM/retail drug store complex. The norm in a few years regarding retail drug sales will be drug dosage packs delivered to customers' front door by Amazon/PillPack. What's the next move from CVS?
It'll be interesting to see how this evolves, especially with the increase of porch pirates. It would be disastrous to patient safety if porch pirates steal meds from these unsecure delivery mechanisms. It would harm patients who need vital medication and also the receivers of the stolen (black market) meds. Hopefully, narcotics and other important meds are not delivered in the pill packs.
Although "preset" pills are valuable for patients that don't have dynamic changes with medications or dosing, they may not be as valuable for patients who are on medications that are titrated regularly such as coumadin.
Posted by: Andrea Pitkus, PhD, MLS(ASCP)CM | December 26, 2019 at 11:54 AM