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PillPack

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PillPack, Inc.
Company typeDivision
IndustryPharmaceutical
Founded2013; 11 years ago (2013)
FoundersTJ Parker
Elliot Cohen
HeadquartersManchester, New Hampshire, United States
Area served
United States
ServicesOnline retailer
ParentAmazon.com
Websitepillpack.com

PillPack, Inc. is an American online pharmacy which is a subsidiary of Amazon.com. It is based in Manchester, New Hampshire, United States.[1] The company was founded in 2013.

History

The company was founded in 2013 by TJ Parker and Elliot Cohen.[2] By 2014 the IDEO incubated company was licensed in 31 states and shipping medication in dosage packets with robots handling the packaging process.[3] Software development and management were based in Somerville, Massachusetts, with pharmacy fulfillment operations at the Millyard complex in Manchester, New Hampshire, former site of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company.

In April 2016, Express Scripts announced it would remove PillPack from its pharmacy benefit manager network at the end of the month, saying the company had misrepresented itself as a physical pharmacy rather than mail-order. PillPack alleged that Express Scripts was simply trying to give an anti-competitive advantage to its own mail-order pharmacy. PillPack launched the website FixPharmacy.com and began a publicity campaign, urging affected customers (which represented about a third of its business) to complain to Express Scripts.[4] Express Scripts agreed to allow PillPack to remain in its network before the suspension took effect.[5][6]

A March 2018 incident resulted in the 2022 conviction of one PillPack Manchester employee for raping another at his apartment after a night of drinking among co-workers to celebrate a promotion.[7]

In June 2018, Amazon.com acquired the company for a reported US$753 million.[8] In November of 2019, the company changed their branding from "PillPack, an Amazon company" to "PillPack by Amazon Pharmacy".[9][10]

In June 2019, the federal district court for Rhode Island ruled that former CVS Caremark head John Levin violated his 18-month non-compete agreement by working at PillPack in a position responsible for insurance payment negotiations.[11]

In June 2020, PillPack announced plans to build a customer service call center in Meridian, Idaho, to expand upon its existing call center in Salt Lake City, Utah.[12]

In December 2021, Parker and Cohen were removed from Amazon Pharmacy management. Parker was replaced in the reporting chain by Amazon Alexa VP John Love, and Neil Lindsay, who had previously overseen Amazon Prime, was put in charge of both Amazon Pharmacy and Amazon Care. Axios described the two as being "demoted to consultants" but Amazon said it was not a demotion, and that they remain Amazon employees.[13][14][15]

In May 2022, Pillpack agreed to pay $5.79 million to the federal government and some states settle a Department of Justice lawsuit. The complaint alleged that from April 2014 to November 2019, the company sent a larger amount of insulin to Medicare and Medicaid patients than allowed, then falsely reported the remaining supply those patients had in order to avoid penalties.[16][17]

References

  1. ^ Lunden, Ingrid (2018-06-28). "Amazon buys PillPack, an online pharmacy, for just under $1B". TechCrunch.
  2. ^ Kokosky, Gina; Hall, Colleen (2018-06-28). "Amazon Enters the Pharmacy World with Acquisition of PillPack". Pharmacy Times.
  3. ^ Flaherty, Joe (14 February 2014). "A Drug-Dealing Robot That Upends the Pharmacy Model". Wired. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  4. ^ Sara Ashley O'Brien (April 14, 2016). "PillPack vs. Express Scripts: When business turns ugly, people suffer". CNN.
  5. ^ Angela Mueller (April 28, 2016). "Express Scripts, PillPack reach agreement: Report". St. Louis Business Journal.
  6. ^ Christina Farr (April 25, 2016). "PillPack vs Express Scripts: The saga is over". Fast Company.
  7. ^ Mark Hayward (May 6, 2022). "Jury renders guilty verdict in 4-year-old rape case". New Hampshire Union Leader.
  8. ^ Farr, Christina (2019-05-10). "The inside story of why Amazon bought PillPack in its effort to crack the $500 billion prescription market". CNBC.
  9. ^ Garcia, Ahiza (2019-11-15). "Amazon rolls out 'Amazon Pharmacy' branding to PillPack". CNN Business. Cable News Network. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  10. ^ "Amazon Buys PillPack an Online Pharmacy". Tech Crunch. Retrieved 23 February 2021.
  11. ^ "Court says CVS exec's move to PillPack violated noncompete".
  12. ^ Ryan Suppe (Jun 12, 2020). "Amazon-owned PillPack to build Meridian call center, create 500 new jobs". Meridian Press.
  13. ^ Erin Brodwin (December 17, 2021). "Scoop: Amazon Pharmacy leaders demoted". Axios.
  14. ^ Annie Palmer; Bertha Coombs (December 15, 2021). "Amazon elevates former Prime boss to oversee health efforts". CNBC.
  15. ^ Heather Landi (December 19, 2021). "Amazon taps former Prime executive to oversee virtual care, pharmacy and diagnostics businesses". Fierce Healthcare.
  16. ^ Erin Brodwin (May 3, 2022). "Amazon-owned PillPack pays nearly $6 million to settle DOJ fraud suit". Axios.
  17. ^ Nicole Wetsman (May 4, 2022). "Amazon-owned PillPack settles DOJ insulin lawsuit for $6 million".
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