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Healthcare Brew covers pharmaceutical developments, health startups, the latest tech, and how it impacts hospitals and providers to keep administrators and providers informed.
Amazon Pharmacy will deliver some Eli Lilly medications—including the drugmaker’s Ozempic competitor, Zepbound—directly to consumers, the companies announced on March 13.
Eli Lilly tapped Amazon to help with deliveries as the drugmaker struggles to keep up with demand for Zepbound, which hit the market in December 2023 as an alternative to Eli Lilly’s other GLP-1 drug, Mounjaro.
In addition to Zepbound, Amazon Pharmacy will offer free two-day delivery for some Eli Lilly diabetes and migraine medications for Amazon Prime members, according to a press release. Amazon will work with Eli Lilly’s LillyDirect program, which started in January. Under the program, Eli Lilly delivers medications straight to patients’ homes rather than to pharmacies.
LillyDirect previously tapped digital health startup Truepill to complete medication deliveries. Prescription deliveries will now be split between Amazon Pharmacy and Truepill depending on a patient’s insurance and other factors, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Physicians can send prescriptions straight to LillyDirect or Amazon Pharmacy, according to the companies. Eligible patients can also connect with a telehealth provider via LillyDirect’s website to receive a prescription for any of the drugs that Amazon delivers.
Eli Lilly executives told CNBC they plan to expand the number of medications offered via LillyDirect in the future.
Amazon Pharmacy VP John Love previously told Healthcare Brew that one of the pharmacy’s top priorities is making prescription delivery faster. Love told CNBC that Amazon Pharmacy is trying to make Eli Lilly drug deliveries faster than the current two-day delivery schedule.
“We actually don’t think that’s a high enough bar. We’re still getting started,” Love told CNBC.