Amazon could have dropped a big hint that it's not going to start selling drugs

Joshua Roberts/Reuters

Jeff Bezos, founder of Blue Origin and CEO of Amazon, speaks about the future plans of Blue Origin during an address to attendees at Access Intelligence's SATELLITE 2017 conference in Washington, U.S., March 7, 2017.

• Amazon has cancelled its application for a pharmaceutical wholesaler license in Maine.
• The cancellation could have big implications for Amazon's potential ambitions in healthcare.
• "We see this cancellation as a negative indicator of the likelihood that Amazon enters pharmacy in the near term and thus as a positive for the pharmacies and drug supply chain," analysts at RBC Capital Markets wrote in a note.

Amazon has cancelled an application for wholesale pharmacy licenses in the state of Maine.

The cancellation, which Business Insider first spotted in a note from RBC Capital Markets and confirmed via the Maine Board of Pharmacy's website, occurred on December 1 and could have big implications for Amazon's potential ambitions in healthcare.

Complimentary Tech Event

Transform talent with learning that works

Capability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More

In October, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch first reported that Amazon has been approved for wholesale pharmacy licenses for at least 12 states. Amazon's Maine licenses were pending at that time.

The licenses don't necessarily indicate that Amazon is going to start to sell prescription drugs. In many cases, wholesale pharmacy licenses are needed to sell things like medical supplies, something Amazon already sells to businesses.

But because in Maine, a medical device license wasn't needed to sell medical supplies, RBC analysts George Hill and Stephen Hagan considered it "a strong leading indicator of whether or not Amazon would enter the drug supply chain."

"We see this cancellation as a negative indicator of the likelihood that Amazon enters pharmacy in the near term and thus as a positive for the pharmacies and drug supply chain," they wrote.

Amazon did not immediately return a request for comment.

Maine Board of Pharmacy

Speculation that Amazon could be getting into the prescription drug industry has been popping up for months. CNBC reported in May that Amazon is seriously considering entering the pharmacy business, leading to speculation about what that might look like. Healthcare companies, which could see their industry change if Amazon does get into it, have been taking the tech giant very seriously.