Amazon announced that it has partnered with Eli Lilly to distribute select medications through the drugmaker’s telehealth offering — including its popular GLP-1 drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound.
The pharma giant chose the tech giant as its third-party dispensing provider to make home deliveries of select diabetes, obesity and migraine drugs through its LillyDirect service.
The platform, which was launched in January, currently offers 15 prescription drugs. Through this partnership, physicians can send prescriptions to either LillyDirect Pharmacy Solutions or to Amazon Pharmacy and they will be delivered to a patient’s home.
The move comes as Lilly tries to improve access to its GLP-1 drugs amid heightened consumer demand, widespread shortages and a fierce rivalry with Novo Nordisk, which sells Ozempic and Wegovy.
Just last month, the Food and Drug Administration’s drug shortage website identified 10, 12.5 and 15 mg doses of Lilly’s diabetes drug Mounjaro as being in short supply through March.
Still, the drugs have been a boon to the bottom line as Lilly’s latest quarterly revenues hit $2.5 billion thanks to sales of Mounjaro and Zepbound. During the quarter, Mounjaro’s revenue topped $2.2 billion and Zepbound notched nearly $176 million in its first quarter on the market.
Consequently, Lilly increased its full-year guidance with revenue in the range of $40.4 billion to $41.6 billion.
Meanwhile, this is yet another inroad made by Amazon in the healthcare sector, specifically as it relates to prescription drug delivery.
“Treating diabetes and obesity can slow or prevent the onset of cardiovascular disease, reducing the risk of heart attack or stroke, as well as reducing the risk of some cancers, osteoarthritis, and more,” Dr. Vin Gupta, Amazon Pharmacy’s chief medical officer, wrote in a blog post on the company’s website. “We’re pleased to work with Lilly to reimagine a pharmacy experience that can support better care outcomes.”
Stock prices of both companies rose slightly during the early trading session Wednesday morning.
Over the summer, Amazon announced its pharmacy division would launch an automatic coupon for $35 insulin vials, continuous glucose-monitors and pumps. This included insulin and diabetes care products from Lilly as well as Novo and Sanofi.
Months before that, Amazon launched RxPass — a $5-per-month subscription service to deliver generic drugs to Prime members.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon made deliberate moves to establish a foothold in the industry, buying online pharmacy PillPack for $750 million in 2018.
The company has also experienced a handful of missteps along this journey, memorably shutting down Amazon Care in 2022 after launching it three years prior.
In 2018, the company also teamed with J.P. Morgan and Berkshire Hathaway to create Haven, a venture that sought to disrupt healthcare, only for the project to disband in early 2021.
