Eli Lilly and Pfizer have both recently launched direct-to-consumer platforms allowing patients to bypass an in-person doctor visit or brick-and-mortar pharmacy. Their decisions suggest large pharmaceutical companies are exploring new ways to reach patients and could indicate a growing trend.
Lilly introduced LillyDirect, its direct-to-consumer platform, at the beginning of the year with the aim of “simplifying the patient experience,” said CEO David Ricks. The online platform offers disease management for diabetes, migraine and obesity, with a telehealth program to connect users with healthcare professionals who can prescribe medications delivered to the home.
In March, Lilly also announced it was teaming up with Amazon Pharmacy as a third-party dispensing provider to sell the same products to LillyDirect patients with Amazon’s free, two-day delivery. The program circumvents traditional pharmacies and offers access to Amazon’s pharmacists around the clock.
Both changes provide another opening for consumers to get their hands on Lilly’s weight loss drug Zepbound, which competes with Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy. Lilly’s diabetes medication, Mounjaro, is not available on LillyDirect, although the company said it plans to expand its available medications on the platform down the line.
Seemingly following in Lilly’s footsteps, Pfizer told The Financial Times in May it plans to launch its own DTC website before the end of the year. The platform will offer medication for migraine sufferers as well as its COVID-19 drug Paxlovid, prescribed through telehealth professionals.
A different DTC wave
Although big pharma has dabbled with the DTC model in the past, it’s more often seen when a company is dealing with a patent loss as a way to counter incoming generics, according to Bill Roth, managing partner of healthcare consultancy firm Blue Fin Group.
When Pfizer lost exclusivity of its cholesterol blockbuster drug Lipitor in 2011, the company launched a DTC platform to sell the drug at generic prices.
“When a brand [loses exclusivity] and it experiences generic competition, it's usually disadvantaged in some way by the PBM or the pharmacy,” Roth said. “What's interesting about what Lilly did — and what Pfizer is proposing to do — is these are on the front side of product life cycle.”
Still, drugmakers face a dilemma of whether these initiatives draw patients away from their usual route to getting medications — especially if they take multiple drugs.
“Do I as the patient have to go to a number of different pharma websites now to buy my pharmaceuticals?” questioned Roth. “We still live in a world where the patient, whether they are getting a service from brick and mortar or getting service from home delivery, wants to basically place orders with one pharmacy and not have to buy from a number of different pharmacies.”
The right targets
Beyond big pharma, the DTC market has been flush with lifestyle brands offering generic medications across personal care, sexual and reproductive health. These therapeutic areas are better suited for the DTC model, according to Roth, who said companies like Hims & Hers Health and Lemonaid Health have become their own “destination” for consumers to source prescription medications.
Roth isn’t certain how well Lilly and Pfizer will compete in the DTC market in the long run.
“It's unclear as to whether they're trying to learn [from the platforms] or whether they're truly trying to stand up a new channel to be able to sell,” he said.
Lilly’s weight loss medications is where the DTC model stands out, however, as the drugs are so popular and in-demand they’re in short supply. Hims & Hers Health, which offers prescription medications for hair loss, anxiety and depression, plus birth control and generic Viagra on their platform, announced this week it’s offering weight loss medications in the form of a compounded GLP-1. The company claims its offering will have the same active ingredient as Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy, and will start at $199 per month.
The move highlights the opportunity DTC companies see in the booming weight loss space, although Lilly and Novo have both made moves to push back.
With LillyDirect and Pfizer for All, it’s still unclear who exactly the pharmas are targeting as their customers, particularly as Lilly’s weight loss medications may not be covered by all insurers at this time and come with a list price of around $1,000 per month.
“I think the question that's being asked by pharma right now [is]: Is it better for me to pursue a cash market or is insurance still the way to go?” Roth said.
Roth predicted other comapnies could follow Lilly and Pfizer.
“I don't see them as a sustainable, healthy alternative to the other retail or home delivery options out there, but I don't think it's going to stop people from trying,” Roth said. “The way our industry works is that we've seen one [platform], and now we've heard of two. By the time you hear about the third, everyone in the industry [is saying], ‘Let’s have a go at that model.’”