Court documents reveal Amazon strategy for shaking up U.S. drug business

Amazon is looking to work directly with health plans and employers to sell prescription drugs, a move that could potentially shake up how medicines are sold and distributed in the U.S. The tech giant’s ambitions were revealed yesterday in newly surfaced court documents from a lawsuit filed by CVS to prevent one of its former executives from taking a job at PillPack, an Amazon subsidiary. According to the suit, Amazon-PillPack would essentially become its own pharmacy benefit manager, cutting out Express Scripts, CVS, and Optum, which currently control about 80% of the market. Though it remains to be seen how Amazon-PillPack will ultimately use its distribution reach and what types of deals it may strike with health plans and employers. More for STAT Plus subscribers here.