BRIEF—Amazon said to be shelving plans to sell drugs

Amazon Business, which sells bulk items to business customers, has shelved its plan to sell and distribute pharmaceutical products after considering it last year, according to people familiar with the matter, report Eugene Kim and Christina Farr on CNBC.

Instead, the company is focused on selling less sensitive medical supplies to hospitals and smaller clinics through Amazon Business — and it has found that business to be more challenging than expected.

Several healthcare and pharmaceutical distribution companies saw their stock take a nose dive following recent reports of Amazon potentially getting into the space, but it will likely take some time before those concerns turn into real threats.

The change in plan comes partly because Amazon has not been able to convince big hospitals to change their traditional purchasing process, which typically involves a number of middlemen and loyal relationships.

Amazon has shelved a plan to sell drugs to hospitals, and insiders say there are two reasons why