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A comment on Amazon buys PillPack, an online pharmacy, for just under $1B. Parent comment

Re:Amazon buys PillPack, an online pharmacy, for just under $1B by toomanybeersies on Thursday June 28, 2018 @08:13PM (#17421484)
> The disadvantage is that there are some leftover pills most of the time. E.g. you need 30 pills and there are only units of 20 available.

This is the exact reason why they count pills. You have a prescription for X pills, you get X pills.

It's been a while since I've had a prescription filled, but I think that in New Zealand it's the same. Most prescription drugs like opiate painkillers or antibiotics are counted and bottled.

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Re:Amazon buys PillPack, an online pharmacy, for just under $1B by yudhiyudhi on Friday June 29, 2018 @12:09AM (#17422350)
Here in India, they'll either cut the blisters to your prescription or give already cut blisters from previous orders.
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Re:Amazon buys PillPack, an online pharmacy, for just under $1B by tiatia123 on Thursday June 28, 2018 @09:22PM (#17421737)
Yes, but is it worth the trouble?

Also, you may be able to build robots to dispense pills. But have you seen a European automated pharmacy supplier? Everything is automated. They dispense all the blister packs into a small cart that gets delivered to the pharmacy. In the end it does not matter if you supply a pharmacy with 2-20 medicines or a consumer with 1-10.

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Re:Amazon buys PillPack, an online pharmacy, for just under $1B by michaelt on Friday June 29, 2018 @03:08AM (#17422937) 

  Yes, but is it worth the trouble?
The "schedule II drugs" jeherr mentions as being counted twice are things like cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl. i.e. drugs that could be readily sold onto the black market.
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Re:Amazon buys PillPack, an online pharmacy, for just under $1B by jeherr on Friday June 29, 2018 @01:34PM (#17426061)
While cocaine and methamphetamine are schedule II, those are poor examples. I don’t think pharmacies ever carry them, and their medical use is very rare.

Fentanyl is commonly carried in pharmacies but it’s not a commonly prescribed medication. Better examples would be adderall, vyvanse, norco and oxycontin.

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