Gary Connors, partner at Oliver Wight EAME, Business Consultants, discusses what Amazon's foray into pharmaceuticals means for the industry.
Disruption
Earlier this month it was confirmed that the name ‘Amazon Pharmacy’ is a registered status in the UK. This news follows the disruptor’s successful launch into pharmaceuticals and healthcare in the US and its application for ‘Amazon Pharmacy’ trademarks in the UK and EU last year.
Whilst this presents a huge risk to UK and EU pharmacies, whether it presents a threat or an opportunity for pharmaceutical manufacturers depends on the role they play in the sector and what type of organisation they are. The pharmaceutical sector is a broad term that covers large pharmaceutical organisations that discover, develop, manufacture and distribute their own products; organisations that develop, manufacture and distribute generic copies of these original drugs at much cheaper prices and organisations that do not discover or develop but make their margin on buying and packaging drugs that they don’t make.