Amazon.com: books, music, movies, apparel, food — and prescription medicine? A report earlier this year that the massive online retailer was mulling a pharmaceutical-industry entry has had observers all aflutter. Amazon’s MZN, -1.04% nearly $14 billion acquisition of Whole Foods, announced in June and closed just over two months later, sparked speculation that the grocery chain might soon house pharmacy locations. Though Amazon itself has not confirmed a potential expansion into pharmaceuticals, the possibility has sent stocks of pharmaceutical middlemen south on more than one occasion. “Amazon has shown that they have mastery of the technology and innovative approaches to really transform how the marketplace delivers product,” said Linda Pissott Reig, who co-chairs the FDA section of the Pittsburgh-based law firm Buchanan, Ingersoll & Rooney PC. The move could also have wider implications for consumers. Amazon could use de-identified big data to then see if, for example, “a patient with depression is also seeking out self-help books, or particular products,” she said. “Amazon, with a giant marketplace, has a lot of ability to collect information.”via