Amazon is moving into the drug distribution business, but one of the world’s largest prescription pill distributors doesn’t feel threatened.
Speaking with Fortune, AmerisourceBergen CEO Steven Collis says he’s not worried about Amazon’s recent purchase of PillPack, the online pharmacy company. “I suspect it’s going to be a very, very long term before this could be a really significant force,” he says.
AmerisourceBergen (ABC) is a powerful player in the huge pharmaceutical industry. The Pennsylvania-based wholesaler, sells generic and brand-name drugs to a wide variety of healthcare providers. With revenues of $153 billion it is the 12th largest company on the Fortune 500.
PillPack is a startup with a small stake the drug industry, but it has pharmacy licenses in 50 states. Now that it is owned by Amazon, many industry experts say it could be the catalyst for disruption in the way people shop for drugs and what they pay for them.
President Trump has criticized pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer for high drug prices. The President exerted so much pressure on Pfizer recently that the company reversed plans to raise prices. Merck and Novartis followed suit, saying they would lower or freeze their prices.
Collis predicts new era of where drug prices are going to come down. ““I think there’s tremendous sensitivity to too high price increases,” he says. “It’s very unusual for over ten percent price increases and there’s definitely a dynamic political environment where pricing is being challenged. And I think manufacturers are having to think of their pricing strategies very differently.”
Watch the video above for more from our interview with Collis.
