Amazon Launches DTC Healthcare Platform

Amazon is taking another shot at healthcare.

The latest: The tech giant launched Amazon Clinic, a message-based DTC service providing treatment for over 20+ common conditions.

Working with licensed physicians in 32 states and leveraging Amazon Pharmacy, it’ll offer care for acne, erectile dysfunction, birth control, and STIs — as well as refill existing prescriptions for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, migraines, and more.

How we got here: Amazon has been iterating on a healthcare strategy for more than four years, acquiring online pharmacy PillPack in 2018 and piloting a primary care network called Amazon Care in 2019. Seeking to scale, this year has been busier than most.

• February: Extended Amazon Care nationwide, focusing on corporate employees
• July: Acquired telehealth primary care provider One Medical for $3.9B
• August: Announced disbanding of Amazon Care, effective EOY

What it means: After fits and starts, Amazon sees consumer healthcare as an easier path than corporate telehealth. A complementary service to its One Medical and Amazon Pharmacy businesses, Clinic will seek to one-up the convenience factor of new rivals hims & hers and Thirty Madison.

Punchline: A retailer at heart, Amazon Clinic will largely be another product business — dispensing quick-fix pharma for sensitive, but relatively minor, health issues. But, with its ecosystem a constant work-in-progress, an integrated offering for better health still seems far off.