SEATTLE — Amazon Pharmacy’s goal from the start has been helping patients navigate a complicated health care system.
“There’s just a lot of friction in the pharmacy space,” says Tanvi Patel, the business’ vice president and general manager, in how people are getting on medications, how they’re receiving them and how they’re remaining adherent. That’s aside from “the complexity of understanding what you’re going to pay. And what’s the prior authorization required? Is there something else on your payer’s formulary that you could be taking instead that you could afford?”
Making all this easier will help people get and stay healthy, she says. Amazon Pharmacy has made a lot of progress to that end over the years, with investments in speed, transparency and partnerships across the industry, she notes.
This year, Amazon Pharmacy will extend same-day prescription delivery to nearly 2,000 more communities, bringing the total number of cities and towns getting the service to 4,500. This will bring fast and reliable medication delivery to more customers nationwide.
The expansion helps address growing medication access challenges. Pharmacy closures, staffing shortages and transportation barriers are leaving millions of customers with fewer ways to get the medications they rely on. Amazon Pharmacy is filling that gap by bringing prescriptions directly to customers’ doors — often within hours.
“What that allows us to do is take care of patients with their acute needs in addition to their recurring medication needs,” said Patel. It allows patients to get their medications fast and conveniently without having to stand in line or figure out when a pharmacy might be open. It also addresses the increasing number of pharmacy deserts.
“That’s how we’re really able to continue on that journey to get closer and closer to patients, in addition to the fact that our pharmacists are available 24/7 to connect with,” she comments. “So it’s clinically forward, it’s human powered, and it’s convenient.”
Last year, Amazon Pharmacy achieved faster delivery speeds across all 50 states and Washington, D.C., using innovative delivery methods tailored to the needs of different communities.
In dense urban areas like Manhattan, Amazon delivers medications with e-bikes. In suburban communities such as Chesterbrook, Pa., electric vehicles are used. And in remote locations like Mackinac Island, Mich., medications are delivered via ferries and horses.
In Los Angeles, One Medical patients can pick up prescriptions within minutes using Amazon Pharmacy kiosks located at select clinic lobbies — allowing patients to begin treatment immediately after an appointment. More kiosks are being added this year.
Fast delivery also extends beyond major metropolitan areas. Amazon Pharmacy provides a variety of fast shipping options to remote Alaska towns and across the Navajo Nation in communities such as Fort Defiance and Keams Canyon in Arizona, where the nearest brick-and-mortar pharmacy can be a more than a 45- to 60-minute drive and other mail-order services take between five and 10 days. Amazon leverages its logistics network to bring prescriptions to customers’ homes the next day or within two to three days.
In
pharmacy deserts, Amazon Pharmacy helps fill critical gaps through 24/7 access to licensed pharmacists, automatic refills and the PillPack service. PillPack from Amazon Pharmacy organizes medications by dose and time into easy-to-open packets and delivers them monthly to help customers and caregivers manage multiple prescriptions more reliably. In 2025, Amazon Pharmacy also introduced a caregiver support feature to help families manage medications for loved ones.
Addressing the criticism that talking to a remote pharmacist falls short of talking to one in person, Patel said, “I actually think that it’s the opposite. I understand that question. I understand that criticism in the sense that it’s hard to get accustomed to something that hasn’t been the norm for decades. But that, essentially, is the problem, that the pharmacy industry hasn’t really evolved much in decades, and we have started to become tolerant of some of the friction in that system.” But with new inventions, “we need to use these means that we have.”
AI is being implemented “very much across Amazon Pharmacy,” she notes. “What that allows us to do is fill prescriptions faster, almost 90% faster. What that means is that our clinical pharmacists are more available for that human touch. They’re available 24/7 to connect with patients proactively, reactively, when the patient needs it for that clinical care,” rather than having the pharmacist tied down with back-office duties like counting pills or getting a prior authorization.
“We also use AI to ensure that our inventory is in the right places across the country,” she said. “And what that means for patients is faster access to medications when and where they need them rather than having those medications travel across the country for two days before they reach them.”
Amazon pharmacy
KEY EXECUTIVES
Tanvi Patel, Vice President and General Manager
John Love, Vice President
HEADQUARTERS
410 Terry Ave. N.
Seattle, Wash. 98109
Website: pharmacy.amazon.com
TRADE CLASS — E-Commerce
FULL-YEAR RESULTS
Pharmacy sales — $2.3 billion*
Overall sales — $717 billion
Number of states operating — 50, plus D.C.
*CDR estimate.
