More than two years following its $753 million acquisition of PillPack, a prescription medicine delivery service, Amazon has now introduced Amazon Pharmacy, its new online and mobile platform for ordering and receiving prescription medications.

Customers can utilize a protected pharmacy profile to incorporate their insurance details, oversee prescriptions, and select preferred payment methods, all within Amazon’s system. Further expanding into broader healthcare offerings, beyond simply product sales, users have access to “self-service help” resources on Amazon’s site, and can also consult with pharmacists via phone for guidance: “Knowledgeable and approachable pharmacists are available around the clock to address medication-related inquiries.”

This launch, coming after Amazon’s introduction of its own over-the-counter drug line in 2019, represents the company’s most significant venture into the healthcare sector to date, potentially unlocking substantial new revenue streams, particularly as the continuing COVID-19 pandemic drives consumers toward more remote healthcare options and online shopping.

This initiative extends beyond Amazon’s ongoing expansion as a comprehensive shopping destination. For many individuals, pharmacy visits are often combined with grocery shopping, a trend reflected in the evolution of many pharmacies into stores also selling food, and vice versa.

Integrating this service with Amazon’s robust grocery and food operations—which encompasses its own brands alongside acquired businesses like Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods, Amazon’s private label products, and physical Amazon grocery locations—creates a more unified shopping experience, allowing customers to fulfill a greater portion of their needs through Amazon alone.

Currently, Amazon Pharmacy is available only in the U.S., but it presents a significant global opportunity. The online pharmacy market is projected to reach $131 billion in revenue by 2025 globally. The prescription drug industry itself is estimated at $904 billion this year, with anticipated growth to nearly $1.3 trillion by 2025.

“With an increasing number of people managing daily tasks from home, a pharmacy service is a valuable and necessary addition to the Amazon online store,” stated Doug Herrington, senior vice president of North American Consumer at Amazon, in a press release. “PillPack has delivered outstanding pharmacy service to individuals with long-term health conditions for over six years. We are now extending our pharmacy services to Amazon.com, which will help more customers save time, reduce costs, simplify their routines, and improve their well-being.”

In addition to the standard Amazon Pharmacy service, Amazon is introducing exclusive benefits for Prime members: Subscribers to Amazon’s premium membership program can enjoy unlimited, free two-day delivery on Amazon purchases, as the company announced.

Prime members can also realize savings on medications when paying without insurance through Amazon Pharmacy—and receive comparable discounts at 50,000 other participating pharmacies across the country. The Amazon Prime prescription savings program can provide members with savings of up to 80% on generic drugs and 40% on brand-name medications when paying without insurance.

Prime members can access these prescription savings during checkout, and all Amazon customers can browse and order medications—including both branded and generic options, as well as various formulations and dosages—online.

Amazon also enables customers to compare prices with their insurance co-pay, without insurance coverage, or with the savings offered through the Prime prescription savings plan, allowing them to select the most affordable option. A pharmacy service team is available 24/7 to answer customer questions about their medications.

“We recognize the importance of access to affordable medication, and we are confident that Prime members will find substantial value with the new Amazon Prime prescription savings benefit,” said Jamil Ghani, vice president, Amazon Prime, in a statement. “Our aim is to make Prime members’ lives easier and more convenient every day, and we are pleased to extend the exceptional savings, streamlined shopping experience, and fast, free delivery that members appreciate to Amazon Pharmacy.”

The introduction of Amazon Pharmacy poses a challenge to other discount prescription services, such as the publicly traded GoodRx, and companies like RxSaver, as well as delivery services like ExactCare Pharmacy.

Competition from Amazon likely influenced GoodRx’s decision to offer telemedicine services as a differentiating factor and to expand its service offerings. It will be interesting to observe whether Amazon will also extend its services to provide virtual care beyond its employee base. Last year, the company launched Amazon Care for its Seattle-based employees as a pilot program offering both in-person and telemedicine services.

Initially, the company limited the pilot to employees, but (as reported by TechCrunch) the significant attention and product development invested in the initial app, user experience, and branding suggest a potential for broader U.S. market expansion in the future.

In August, Amazon unveiled its fitness tracker, Halo. This personal health and wellness monitoring and advice service includes a $64.99 wrist tracker and a suite of applications for health tracking.

As TechCrunch highlighted, the service goes beyond typical health tracking devices by providing a comprehensive assessment of various health metrics, including body fat percentage, measured at home using only a smartphone’s camera and the Amazon Halo app. Utilizing a deep neural network, the app isolates the body from its surroundings and analyzes body fat “hot spots” to determine body fat percentage, generating a 3D model of the user’s body. Halo users can then adjust a slider to visualize the impact of gaining or losing body fat on their physique.

Considering all of this, a dedicated Amazon Prime user who shops at Whole Foods, utilizes Halo, and fills prescriptions through Amazon Pharmacy provides the company with perhaps the most comprehensive insight into their health currently available.

Should Amazon expand its Amazon Care service to consumers, the only area of the healthcare continuum the company wouldn’t address would be catastrophic care. However, given Amazon’s ambitions, it is conceivable that urgent care clinics or hospitals bearing the Amazon logo could emerge in the future.