Amazon loses PillPack founders four years after acquisition of pharmacy startup

Two Amazon executives who played a formative relation successful the retail giant's propulsion into wellness attraction are departing.

TJ Parker and Elliot Cohen, the co-founders of medicine cause startup PillPack, volition permission Amazon astatine the extremity of this month, according to a station connected Parker's LinkedIn profile. Amazon bought PillPack successful 2018 for astir $750 million.

After the acquisition, Parker and Cohen helped steer the motorboat of Amazon Pharmacy, the company's online pharmacy for delivering medicine medications successful the U.S. Both Parker and Cohen served arsenic vice presidents of pharmacy up until recently, erstwhile they were shifted to consulting roles, Axios reported.

"I'm penning to fto you each cognize that Elliot and I are moving connected from PillPack and Amazon astatine the extremity of the month," Parker wrote. "Out of everything, it's the radical that we met on the mode and that joined america connected this travel that we'll retrieve astir fondly, and we'll miss you all."

Parker and Cohen co-founded PillPack successful 2013. Parker, who's dada was a pharmacist, attended pharmacy schoolhouse successful Boston. He met Cohen, who was successful concern schoolhouse astatine MIT. PillPack started serving customers successful 2014, and Parker's dada joined arsenic 1 of the company's archetypal pharmacists.

Amazon has accelerated its propulsion into wellness attraction successful caller years, though not each of its efforts person been successful. The pharmacy concern struggled to summation traction, and Amazon precocious announced it would shutter its telehealth work Amazon Care aft uncovering it wasn't a "complete capable offering" for customers.

Early past year, a associated task Amazon had formed with Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase to little health-care costs disbanded. The entity was called Haven, and its archetypal expected introduction into the health-care marketplace had sent shares of providers tumbling.

Still, Amazon is investing important superior and resources successful the space. In July, Amazon said it would get One Medical for $3.9 billion, bringing successful a web of boutique superior attraction clinics. Amazon besides operates a user diagnostics venture.

Amazon had reshuffled its wellness enactment anterior to Parker and Cohen's departure. Last December, CNBC reported the institution elevated its erstwhile Prime brag Neil Lindsay to oversee its wellness efforts. John Love, who antecedently served arsenic a vice president successful Amazon's Alexa division, was named vice president of Pharmacy and PillPack successful January.

In a memo to the wellness services squad connected Monday, Lindsay called the departure of Parker and Cohen "bittersweet" and thanked the PillPack founders for helping make the strategy "to assistance amended the lawsuit wellness attraction experience."

"Driven by their imaginativeness and lawsuit obsession, the PillPack concern and capabilities became the instauration of Amazon Pharmacy," Lindsay wrote.

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