Amazon has established a laboratory named “1492”

Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon) is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, USA. It is the largest online e-commerce company in the United States and one of the earliest companies to conduct e-commerce operations on the internet. Founded in 1995, the company initially focused solely on online book sales before gradually expanding into other sectors. Today, it has become the online retailer with the most extensive product selection globally and a top-tier global internet enterprise.

An article published by CNBC at the end of last month reported that Amazon has established a secret laboratory focused on internet healthcare technology, named “1492.” VCBeat (WeChat: vcbeat) has compiled the relevant reports for you. Let’s take a look at how this e-commerce giant is strategizing its entry into the internet healthcare sector.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos

In a report dated July 26, CNBC stated that Amazon has established a laboratory named “1492.” The report noted that Amazon had previously posted job advertisements with the keyword “a1.492” on several recruitment websites to recruit staff for this team.

In recruitment advertisements, the employer described the position as part of the “Amazon Big Challenge” or the “Special Projects” team. Additionally, the department posted job openings for a User Experience Design Manager for its “new verticals,” as well as for a Director of Machine Learning.The latter requires candidates to have experience in medical IT and healthcare industry analysis, as well as knowledge of electronic health records (EHR).Based on the job postings, it is evident that Amazon is seeking machine learning experts, user experience designers, and strategy leads for its 1492 team.

Some members who have already joined the team have also tagged themselves with “a1.492” on social networking sites such as LinkedIn.The currently known team members include two machine learning experts, one user experience designer, and two strategic project managers, Kristen Helton and Cameron Charles, who are responsible for internal project operations.。

But following the publication of the CNBC report, all references to “a1.492” were removed from Amazon’s careers website and from the LinkedIn profiles of relevant personnel by July 27.

An Amazon spokesperson responded via email, stating that the company declines to comment on rumors and speculation.

In 1492 AD, the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic Ocean to reach the Americas, ushering in the era of European exploration and development of the New World. By naming this new venture “1492,” Amazon seems to signal its determination to replicate its success in new frontiers.

According to reports,The 1492 team is currently exploring methods to extract and push data from legacy electronic health record (EHR) systems. If successful, this would enable Amazon to provide such information more conveniently to consumers and their physicians.. At the same time, it is also seeking opportunities to establish a telemedicine platform that enables patients to conduct virtual consultations with doctors.

The team is also exploring healthcare applications compatible with existing Amazon hardware, including the Echo smart speaker widely used in home settings and the Dash Wand, a one-touch voice-activated shopping device, while developing new medical functionalities for its intelligent voice assistant, Alexa. However, it remains unclear whether Amazon will develop new hardware specifically tailored for the healthcare sector.

“Project 1492” is not Amazon’s only team in the health and life sciences sector.

Previously, Amazon had already begun toSales of Medical Devices in the United States. In addition, inPharmaceutical Sector, In April this year, Japanese media reported that Amazon had expanded the delivery coverage of its Prime Now service in Japan with the support of local partners,to encompass both pharmaceuticals and cosmeticsAmazon has added a “Pharmaceuticals” category to its Japanese website and sells medications to patients with pharmacist prescriptions.

As per convention,Amazon always tests new product lines in overseas markets first before considering whether to introduce them to the U.S. domestic market., for example, it pioneered the testing of a drone delivery system in Canada several years ago. It is believed that Amazon will also launch its online pharmacy business in the United States in the near future.

In the realm of health insurance plans, Amazon is hiring personnel for its professional healthcare program to ensure compliance. Earlier this year, Amazon recruited Mark Lyons, a professional from Premera Blue Cross, a health insurer under the Blue Cross Blue Shield umbrella. Sources indicate that Lyons currently serves as Amazon’s internal Pharmacy Benefit Manager (PBM), and his scope of responsibility is likely to expand to external operations in the near future.

Regarding investments in digital health startups, at the beginning of this year,Amazon, along with firms such as ARCH Venture Partners and Johnson & Johnson Innovation, invested in GRAIL, a cancer early-detection company under Illumina., making Grail’s $900 million Series B financing in March the largest investment deal in the digital health sector in the first half of this year.

In the realm of cloud technology, Grail, a recent investment, may become a future client of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon’s cloud computing division, which is also striving to establish collaborative partnerships with other pharmaceutical companies and hospitals.

With the launch of the “1492” project, Amazon is sending a clearer message to the outside world about its ambition to make significant strides in the field of digital health technology.

Beyond Amazon, many major tech companies—including Apple, Google, Samsung, IBM, and Microsoft—have set their sights on the internet healthcare sector, leveraging their robust technological and financial capabilities to actively drive industrial innovation in healthcare. We will continue to monitor these companies’ future moves in the medical field and look forward to the surprises they may bring to the advancement of healthcare digitalization.

References:

http://medcitynews.com/2017/07/amazon-ehr-telemedicine/?_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9INhSM3_KCMDhJQg78ba8_g4ZGIJRTZ1dGmP7VZcbwhZIcG7SsbwAhX3NBQKA4WhZlzlEoRQ--A7w2_7yN5vbCh5nbUA&_hsmi=54732668&from=timeline

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/07/26/amazon-1492-secret-health-tech-project.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/16/amazon-selling-drugs-pharamaceuticals.html