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Amazon is increasingly pushing into healthcare services, including at-home drug deliveries.
Courtesy of Amazon
CVS Health
stock fell Thursday on a report that a major health insurer will drop its pharmacy-benefit management service in favor of a system partially operated by
Amazon.com
.
Blue Shield of California is dropping
CVS
’s
(ticker: CVS) Caremark, its current pharmacy-benefit manager, and replacing it with a selection of other companies, The Wall Street Journal reported. Its new offering will include at-home drug delivery from
Amazon
(AMZN).
CVS will continue handling handling specialty drugs for Blue Shield of California’s members. However, access to low-cost medications will come via Cost Plus Drug Company, the mail-order pharmacy owned by Mark Cuban, the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks.
CVS shares were down 6.6% in premarket trading on Thursday. CVS didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Barron’s early on Thursday.
Blue Shield told the Journal that the plan could save it around $500 million annually and will fully launch in 2025 after a limited rollout next year.
Amazon’s increasing presence in healthcare has been a growing concern for CVS stock, as the companies have clashed in bids to acquire health-services providers.
Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com