Amazon has filed to trademark "Amazon Pharmacy" in Canada, the U.K. and Australia, signaling a potential move into selling prescription drugs outside of the U.S.

According to the Canadian Intellectual Property Office website, Amazon filed for the patent on Jan. 9, 2020. The status is listed as pre-formalized. The trademark also lists other areas that Amazon Pharmacy could move into including surgical, medical dental instruments and pharmaceutical as well as medical and veterinary preparations.

Similar trademark filings from Jan. 9 also appear on the website for IP Australia and the U.K.'s intellectual property office.

A spokesperson for Amazon-owned PillPack confirmed the filing, and noted that the company has also filed trademarks in Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, the EU, India, Israel, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey, and the UAE.

"We are always considering ways to delight customers in every market we serve," said the spokesperson. "At present, our focus is on growing PillPack and offering a better pharmacy experience for customers in the United States."

Amazon began its move into the drug space in 2017, when it started exploring whether to build out a team. The following year, the company acquired PillPack, a start-up that specializes in delivering medications to the home. That signaled an early focus on the U.S. prescription drug market, where PillPack is headquartered, but the company had dabbled in introducing prescription medications to its marketplace in Japan with the support of local partners.

The 'Amazon Pharmacy' branding is relatively new. PillPack notified its customers at the end of 2019 that it would be including references to the brand in its printed materials and on its labels. That suggested that PillPack might look to go broader than its current remit, which involves fulfilling multiple medications and shipping them every month in clearly labeled packages. PillPack does not yet cater to customers that have acute needs for medications, focusing instead on those with chronic ailments who take multiple medications on a recurrent basis.