Launch Of PetSmart Pharmacy Prompts Plunge In Petmed

Petmed Express Inc PETS was in freefall Thursday after competitor PetSmart announced online ordering, auto-refills and home delivery for veterinary prescriptions, over-the-counter medications and diet formula pet foods.

PetSmart Pharmacy hopes to tap into a $10 billion pet drug market and capitalize on growing trends in pet e-commerce.

Petmed fell as much as 5.2 percent on the news, continuing a plunge off July’s all-time highs.

The stock had abruptly fallen in August on reports criticizing the firm’s online marketing tactics. Petmed was specifically accused of conspiring to capitalize on the opioid epidemic by paying for pet opiates to populate Alphabet Inc GOOGL search results. The product in question was immediately pulled from Google pages.

Shares had stabilized in the mid- to high-$30s, and at the time of publication, it was trading down 4 percent at $34.48.