Instead of leaving the comfort of their couch and burning a few hundred calories to visit the doctor's office to refill Eli Lilly's new GLP-1 medication, the pharmaceutical giant has teamed up with Amazon to offer obese Americans an online direct-to-consumer ordering service.
According to Reuters, Lilly's anti-obesity therapy Zepbound will be available on Amazon Pharmacy starting Wednesday. This is the second online pharmacy to partner with LillyDirect and can provide two-day deliveries with Prime membership.
LillyDirect launched in January and aims to make Zepbound easier for patients to access. And why is that? Because this will increase sales and is great for share price and stakeholders. This process eliminates the doctor and local pharmacies.
The marriage of big pharma and Amazon comes as the popularity of Zepbound and other GLP-1 medications soars nationwide. This also means that the demand for telemedicine services is rising.
John Love, Vice President of Amazon Pharmacy, told CNBC in an interview that the company is exploring ways to expedite drug delivery to Americans in under two days.
"We actually don't think that's a high enough bar. We're still getting started," Love said, adding, "But this is what I think makes us an attractive partner and collaborator for all sorts of folks like Lilly, payers, providers who are looking for a different type of pharmacy."
Amazon Chief Medical Officer Dr. Vin Gupta told CNBC that in addition to fast shipping, Amazon Pharmacy will offer 24/7 access to clinical pharmacists for patients.
Amazon Pharmacy has also partnered with Novo Nordisk to sell Wegovy.
It's evident that big pharma, the government, and mega-corporations would rather hook the obese population on GLP-1 medications instead of promoting and selling healthy lifestyles. Why is that? Because there's no money in being healthy. Selling pen injectors for more than a thousand dollars a pop is big money.
