Lilly Partners With Amazon to Sell More Weight-Loss Drugs
(Bloomberg) -- Eli Lilly & Co. is teaming up with Amazon.com Inc. to expand its nascent business of selling weight-loss drugs directly to patients.
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Surging demand for these medications has made getting them a hassle at times. In response, the pharma giant started LillyDirect this year to make it easier. Patients connect with doctors online and certain drugs can be delivered through digital pharmacies such as Truepill and now Amazon Pharmacy.
Amazon might be able to help speed up turnaround times for getting a prescription, said Frank Cunningham, Lilly’s group vice president of global value and access. “We’re looking to create a more convenient experience through our partners.”
Read More: Eli Lilly to Sell Hit Weight-Loss Drugs Directly to Public
So far, selling direct has been “surprisingly successful,” Chief Executive Officer Dave Ricks said Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg’s Caroline Hyde at the Economic Club of New York.
“Do people use it? Yes, at scale,” Ricks said. “In fact, we’re having trouble keeping up.”
Lilly hasn’t disclosed detailed figures on its direct business, and declined to provide specifics for this story.
As demand for GLP-1 drugs has exploded, more patients are turning to telemedicine services to pair them with doctors who can prescribe medications. While some programs have real expertise and individualized services, others offer little beyond the scripts they dole out.
Lilly has suggested its platform could also help patients reduce their medical costs by ensuring that coupons and savings programs are applied. And unlike other pharmacies, Lilly can tell patients when medications are expected to be in stock, Ricks said. That might be a key selling point because there have been ongoing supply shortages of Lilly’s Mounjaro and Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy.
“We can communicate: ‘OK, we don’t have it today, but in two weeks time your shipment will arrive,’” Ricks said in the interview. “CVS and Walmart can’t do that.”
It’s unclear just how many patients Amazon Pharmacy serves or how the partnership may help extend Lilly’s reach. The e-commerce company said last year that its active customers had doubled, without providing a number.
But Amazon has had some success clinching contracts with insurers, such as Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, which made Amazon Pharmacy its default home delivery option. It struck a similar deal with Blue Shield of California last year.
--With assistance from Matt Day.
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