T.J. Parker grew up working in his parent’s pharmacy, including delivering prescriptions to local customers. He saw from an early age how complicated multiple prescriptions could be. After receiving his pharmacy degree, he quickly realized the difficulty some clients had with prescriptions; everything from being unable to read the labels to not understanding exactly when or how they were supposed to take their medications.
While still in college, Parker began sorting pills into daily packages to make the process easier for customers. Soon, Parker and co-founder Elliot Cohen entered a start-up contest at MIT and by 2013, had raised more than $4 million in funding.
The company prepackages medications into daily or hourly envelopes with the time and day spelled out in large letters.
Within 2 years, the company had shipped more than 1 million packages. The idea was clearly a winner. Other companies began to take note and negotiations for the sale of the company began in 2017.
While Walmart had hoped to acquire the company, it was Amazon who was the winning bidder, acquiring the company for $1 billion in cash. (Other reports state it was $100 million)
CVS recently sued Amazon to prevent them from hiring former CVS executives. According to Forbes, this is because pharmacy retailers, such as CVS and Walgreens, are worried that Amazon will eliminate pharmacy benefits managers and deal directly with pharmaceutical companies, drastically cutting prices.
The corporate office for PillPack remains in Manchester, New Hampshire, at this time. It is unknown if Amazon will relocate the main office.
T.J. Parker grew up working in his parent’s pharmacy, including delivering prescriptions to local customers. He saw from an early age how complicated multiple prescriptions could be. After receiving his pharmacy degree, he quickly realized the difficulty some clients had with prescriptions; everything from being unable to read the labels to not understanding exactly when or how they were supposed to take their medications.
While still in college, Parker began sorting pills into daily packages to make the process easier for customers. Soon, Parker and co-founder Elliot Cohen entered a start-up contest at MIT and by 2013, had raised more than $4 million in funding.
History
The company prepackages medications into daily or hourly envelopes with the time and day spelled out in large letters.
Within 2 years, the company had shipped more than 1 million packages. The idea was clearly a winner. Other companies began to take note and negotiations for the sale of the company began in 2017.
While Walmart had hoped to acquire the company, it was Amazon who was the winning bidder, acquiring the company for $1 billion in cash. (Other reports state it was $100 million)
CVS recently sued Amazon to prevent them from hiring former CVS executives. According to Forbes, this is because pharmacy retailers, such as CVS and Walgreens, are worried that Amazon will eliminate pharmacy benefits managers and deal directly with pharmaceutical companies, drastically cutting prices.
The corporate office for PillPack remains in Manchester, New Hampshire, at this time. It is unknown if Amazon will relocate the main office.
