The Latest Shakeup in the Prescription Drug Market: $5 Generics via Amazon Prime

Amazon Pharmacy steadily has been capturing business from large and small retail pharmacies, but its latest venture — RxPass —significantly could expand its customer base.

Under the new service, Amazon Prime users can pay a monthly flat fee of $5 per month out of pocket (Medicare, Medicaid and other insurance are not accepted) to obtain as many generic versions of medications as they need for 50 drugs used to treat 80 common conditions. This is in addition to the $139 annual fee or $14.99 per month they pay to be part of Prime.

The new service, available in 42 states, includes drugs used to treat conditions like hypertension, high cholesterol and acid reflux. It’s another incentive for Amazon customers to become Prime members and could help the company steadily capture additional pharmacy market share.

RxPass will be competing with Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs program, which offers about 350 generic prescription drugs that Cuban says reflect each manufacturer’s price plus a 15% fee. But Amazon Pharmacy also offers a Prime prescription savings benefit for as much as 80% off generic and 40% off brand-name medications at more than 60,000 pharmacies. Amazon is banking on RxPass, combined with its other pharmacy offerings, to generate a net gain in health care customers.