Over the past few years, Kansas-based family physician Josh Umbehr, MD, has sent dozens of emails to Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos, urging him to direct the company toward the prescription drug market, reports CNBC.
"Amazon could work with small pharmacies across the country to provide a huge value to Prime customers, on a regular basis [with] short delivery times, not to mention the effect it would have on competition that over charges immensely," Dr. Umbehr wrote in one of his emails to Mr. Bezos, according to CNBC.
Mr. Bezos never personally responded to Dr. Umbehr, but an Amazon employee did, encouraging him to submit a business proposal and stating he would hear back if his ideas "contributed to Amazon's business goals." Then, in January, Dr. Umbehr was told his proposal had been forwarded to the company's business development team.
"[Mr. Bezos] has empowered talented people on this team to work closely with and make strategic decisions about these issues," the email reads, according to CNBC.
In May, Amazon began its push into the drug supply chain when it tapped Mark Lyons — a former manager of pharmacy services at Premera Blue Cross — as its senior manager of pharmacy benefits.