How Amazon could crack the US$300bil pharmacy market

The PillPack Inc. application is displayed on an Apple Inc. iPhone in an arranged photograph taken in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, June 28, 2018. Amazon.com Inc. agreed to buy the online pharmacy startup PillPack, jumping into the health-care business with a deal that will give the retail giant an immediate nationwide drug network. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Amazon.com Inc. is buying its way into the pharmacy business. Now the question is, how big can it get? 

PillPack, the startup pharmacy that Amazon is buying for about US$1bil (RM4bil), for now focuses on a narrow segment of patients who are on many different medications. It packages pills in individual packets that help people remember when to take their drugs every day, a common challenge for people taking, for example, drugs for diabetes, high cholesterol and blood pressure.