Close-up of a hand holding a mobile phone displaying the Amazon Pharmacy system, Lafayette, Calif., September 15, 2021.
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Eli Lilly He said on Wednesday Amazon The pharmacy will help send certain prescription medications, including hot weight loss treatment Zepbound, to patients' homes through the drug manufacturer's new direct-to-consumer program.
Starting Wednesday, Amazon Pharmacy can deliver certain Eli Lilly prescription medications for obesity, diabetes or migraines to patients who order them from the drug company's direct selling site, according to an email from Eli Lilly. It is the second online pharmacy to cooperate with the Eli Lilly platform, and can provide two-day delivery service for some patients.
LillyDirect connects people with an independent telehealth company that can prescribe certain medications if they qualify. The site also offers a home delivery option if the prescribed treatment is an Eli Lilly treatment, tapping into a third-party online pharmacy to fill prescriptions and send them directly to patients.
LillyDirect, which launched in January, aims to make it easier for patients to access Zepbound and other medications. It eliminates the need to go to the doctor to get a prescription and, in some cases, to the pharmacy to fill it.
The site is one of several ways the companies are moving to disrupt the complex system of drug distribution, pricing and prescribing in the United States, in part because they face more political pressure to lower consumer costs.
The new partnership with Amazon comes as Zepbound and other weight loss medications rise in popularity due to their ability to help patients lose significant weight over time. But Eli Lilly is struggling to meet demand, and many of these drugs have faced intermittent shortages over the past year.
Eli Lilly has not said how many patients have used LillyDirect yet. But in an email on Tuesday, the company said it had seen “strong interest in the platform.” Eli Lilly said that LillyDirect plans to expand the medicines it offers and the companies it cooperates with in the future.
Amazon Pharmacy is offering free two-day delivery to patients with an Amazon Prime membership, which will also apply if they use LillyDirect.
“I think it's a great feature,” Frank Cunningham, senior vice president of global value and access at Eli Lilly, said of Amazon's two-day delivery option during an interview. “The goal is to have a great customer experience where the product gets to them as quickly as possible.”
Cunningham did not disclose how many days it typically takes the site's other pharmacy partner — digital health startup Truepill — to deliver medications to patients. But he told CNBC that Eli Lilly expects Amazon Pharmacy and Truepill to have similar processing and shipping times.
Amazon Pharmacy Vice President John Love told CNBC that he is studying how to deliver medications faster than two days.
“Actually, we don't think this is a high enough level. We're still at the beginning,” he said in an interview. “But that's what I think makes us an attractive, collaborative partner for all types of people like Lilly, payers, and providers who are looking for a different kind of pharmacy.”
Zippound injection pen, Eli Lilly's weight-loss drug, is on display in New York City on December 11, 2023.
Brendan McDiarmid | Reuters
Patients are not required to use LillyDirect's telehealth services to access the home delivery option, according to the website.
Once a patient receives a prescription for a specific Eli Lilly medication, they can ask their healthcare professional to select LillyDirect as the pharmacy within the provider's electronic health record system that will dispense the medication. The prescription will then be routed to LillyDirect, which will deliver the medication to the patient's door through either Amazon Pharmacy or Truepill.
The majority of prescription drug deliveries will be split between the two partners, Eli Lilly said in an email. But the company noted that there will be some cases in which one online pharmacy is more suitable than another for delivery based on a patient's “individual details,” including their insurance network.
Along with home delivery, Amazon Pharmacy will provide 24/7 access to clinical pharmacists for patients who have questions about the medications they are receiving, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Vin Gupta told CNBC.
These pharmacists are especially important for new patients taking weight loss injections like Zepbound. These medications are known to have a number of side effects, including nausea and vomiting.
“We can guide them through this journey and make them feel supported because the provider may not have the time and may not be available for all of these questions,” Gupta said. “There is clinical superiority and clinical support that is not widely available in the pharmaceutical ecosystem we offer.”
John Love, vice president of Amazon Pharmacy, talks about healthcare delivery by drones during Amazon's “Delivering the Future” event at the company's BFI1 fulfillment center and robotics research and development center in Sumner, Washington on October 18, 2023.
Jason Redmond | AFP | Getty Images
This is not the first time Amazon has collaborated with Eli Lilly. In August, Amazon worked with Eli Lilly and other companies to add more than 15 coupons for insulin and diabetes medications to its online pharmacy.
Amazon shook up the drug retail space when it acquired online pharmacy PillPack in 2018 and then rolled out Amazon Pharmacy in 2020. That was part of Amazon's broader, multi-year push into healthcare. The company also purchased primary care provider One Medical for approximately $3.9 billion in 2022.
In February, Amazon confirmed to CNBC that it was cutting hundreds of jobs in its pharmacy and One Medical divisions, as CEO Andy Jassy aggressively cut costs at the company.
But Amazon is seeing “tremendous growth” from Amazon Pharmacy, One Medical and its virtual health clinic, Neil Lindsay, who leads Amazon Health Services, wrote in a memo to employees last month. Lindsay did not provide specific metrics.
Amazon Pharmacy has increased its presence in the broader healthcare industry over the past year.
California's largest health insurer, Blue Shield of California, announced it will no longer employ the health care giant CVS As a pharmacy benefits manager, he will instead partner with several other companies, including Amazon Pharmacy.
— CNBC's Annie Palmer contributed to this report.
