Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) will be allowed to buy primary care firm One Medical after the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) chose not to block the deal on Tuesday.
The online retail behemoth agreed to buy the parent company of the digital and virtual healthcare services provider, 1Life Healthcare, for US$3.49bn last July as part of its plan to offer a technology-powered approach to healthcare.
FTC officials had launched an in-depth review of the deal since its announcement, but saw the expiry date to make a challenge pass on Tuesday, paving the way for the deal to be closed this week.
“The commission will continue to look at possible harms to competition created by this merger,” FTC spokesperson Douglas Farrar warned, however.
It will also assess “possible harms to consumers that may result from Amazon’s control and use of sensitive consumer health information held by One Medical,” he said.
Amazon Care, its virtual healthcare service, was wound down at the end of last year as it did not offer a “complete enough” range of services for “large scale enterprise customers,” according to Neil Lindsay, senior vice president of the retail giant’s health division.
Acquiring One Medical would give Amazon an 800,000-strong customer base, which includes staff from around 8,500 companies, offering them round-the-clock online care, as well as physical doctors' offices.
It would mark a step-up in Amazon’s thus-far muted efforts to break into the health sector by offering “easier” access to care products and services, according to Lindsay.
1Life Healthcare shares jumped 8.6% to US$17.89, in pre-market trading on Wednesday, while Amazon was up 0.4%.