Eli Lilly and Pfizer have launched direct-to-consumer platforms so patients can bypass an in-person doctor or brick-and-mortar pharmacy, signaling a new potential trend in Big Pharma.
Lilly introduced LillyDirect, its new 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 that can be 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 comes with the added bonus of offering Amazon’s pharmacists around the clock.
Both changes provide another opening for consumers to get their hands on Lilly’s blockbuster weight loss drug Zepbound, which is currently competing with Novo Nordisk’s better-selling drugs Ozempic and Wegovy. Its diabetes medication, Mounjaro, is not available on LillyDirect, although the pharma giant said it plans to expand its available medications on the platform down the line.
Following in Lilly’s footsteps, Pfizer told The Financial Times in May it was planning to launch its own DTC website before the end of the year. Similar to Lilly, 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. Now, Roth said the companies could be looking to get further ahead of upcoming revenue declines.
“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.”
But despite providing direct access to prescriptions, drugmakers face a dilemma: luring 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 and more. These therapeutic areas can be better suited for the DTC model, according to Roth, who said DTC 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 already 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 medication uses the same active ingredient as Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy (semaglutide), starting at $199 per month, the company said.
The move highlights the opportunities for DTC companies in the booming weight loss space, and lays bare the gap in Lilly’s DTC offering. If patients are looking to get their hands on GLP-1 medications, they may not turn to LillyDirect if cheaper alternatives are available, especially if brand-name medications are in shortage.
With LillyDirect and Pfizer for All, it’s still unknown 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.
Just two pharma giants have launched new DTC offerings this year, but Roth predicted more could follow.
“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.’”
