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The United States is not challenging Amazon.com's plan to buy one medical company and one pharmacy company.
The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday dropped its opposition to the proposed $1 billion takeover of PillPack, Inc., an online pharmacy that provides customers with refills of medications, in a move that could pave the way for the deal with Amazon.com . The move comes after nearly a year of negotiations between the government and Amazon, which had originally sought approval for its $1 billion acquisition of PillPack in September 2018, but which was ultimately rejected by the DOJ at that time.
The Department of Justice has decided not to challenge Amazon's purchase of the generic drug company that is suing it over its plans to acquire the US-based pharmaceuticals manufacturer.
The move comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order on January 10th, directing the DoJ to review its policy on overseas investments. The review was prompted by concerns that US-based firms could be at a disadvantage when competing with foreign companies over future deals. Amazon has literally everything from grocery to online retailers. It has now become the world largest firm to distribute all over the globe with different domains.
Amazon announced its intention to buy up the pharmaceuticals firm in August last year, and has been involved in negotiations with the Justice Department ever since. In October it said that it would only make an offer if it could buy its way into a settlement with the DOJ, which would allow it to avoid litigation.
But as part of that settlement Amazon would have had to sell off certain assets as part of a divestment plan. This included an agreement with another major healthcare company named McKesson, which had already agreed to sell off assets including hospitals and pharmacies under pressure from regulators and lawmakers concerned about antitrust issues surrounding healthcare mergers.
The US Justice Department has confirmed that it will not challenge Amazon.com’s plan to buy one of the country’s biggest health insurers, Anthem Inc., in a deal worth $157 billion. The department said in a statement on Thursday that it would focus on “competition and consumer protection” issues related to the deal instead.
Anthem is the second-largest private health insurer by enrollment, trailing only UnitedHealth Group Inc., which has about 40 million customers. The deal would put Amazon in a position to provide medical benefits directly to its workers and indirectly to their families and other consumers through plans offered by its online retail business.
US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said on Wednesday that he would review any proposal from Amazon before Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin could sign off on it.
Mr Mnuchin said last week that he expected the review process would be completed before Thanksgiving, but there had been no change in his timeline since then. The Justice Department was already reviewing the transaction because it has antitrust implications for another health insurer: CVS Health Corp. The US Department of Justice will not challenge the online retail giant's plan to buy up some of the country's top medical units. The move comes after Amazon announced it was buying online pharmacy PillPack and online pharmacy RXRX for $1 billion.
Amazon announced plans to buy PillPack and RXRX after it bought Whole Foods, which has a pharmacy in each of its stores. Amazon is one of the fastest growing platforms and brands across the globe. Amazon was all ready to buy the best medical and healthcare pack, but after several meetings and planning US decided not to challenge or ask anything from Amazon.com and let them play their own business.
