Amgen, other drugmakers launch DTC programs

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Drugmakers are increasingly using telehealth platforms to sell their drugs directly to patients — and that’s exactly what President Donald Trump wants.

Amgen is the latest company to enter the direct-to-consumer space, announcing Monday that it will offer its cholesterol-lowering drug repat at a cash price 60% below its current list price before insurance and rebates. It follows similar moves by other drugmakers to simplify how Americans get their medicines and their political push from the Trump administration to reduce U.S. drug prices.

Trump in July sent letters to 17 drugmakers urging them to take specific steps to limit costs for patients, including launching direct-to-consumer models for their drugs. Companies had to react by September 29. It was part of his effort to revive a controversial plan called the “most favored nation” policy, which aims to tie the prices of some drugs in the United States to lower ones abroad.

As part of the plan, Trump said his administration will launch a website called Trumprx.gov, which will have brand-name drugs available for purchase directly at an online discount. For example, under a new deal with Trump, Pfizer said it will offer a significant portion of its primary care treatments and some specialty branded drugs at this site at discounts of 50% on average and up to 85%.

The pharmaceutical industry’s direct-to-consumer programs typically offer a heavily discounted cash price, as well as free shipping, to people who buy directly from companies with cash, rather than filling their prescriptions at brick-and-mortar pharmacies and paying with their health insurance cards. By adopting a direct-to-consumer sales model, drug manufacturers can bypass middlemen such as pharmacy benefit managers and potentially capture some of the billions of dollars in revenue that flows through these middlemen each year.

Here’s your guide to the industry’s current direct-to-consumer models.

• Amgen – The company’s new program, AmGennow, starts with Repatha. The program’s cash price of $239 per month is nearly 60% lower than Repatha’s current list price and is open to all patients, including those who are uninsured or in high health plans or prefer to pay with cash. Amgen said its new cash price for Repatha matches the lowest it now receives in any economically developed country.
• Eli Lilly – Eli Lilly in January 2024 launched its own direct-to-consumer online pharmacy, LillyDirect, to help patients access its weight loss drug Zepbound. The website allows eligible patients to obtain a prescription through a telehealth provider and can provide home delivery. More recently, LillyDirect also began offering Zepbound in single-dose vials that are half or even less than its usual $1,000 list price. The pharmacy also sells medications for diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and migraines, among others, directly to patients.
• Novo Nordisk – The company in March said it would offer its weight-loss drug Wegovy for less than half its usual price per month through a new direct-to-consumer online pharmacy, Novocare. The cash offering is available to millions of patients without insurance coverage for the blockbuster injection. Novo Nordisk in August also began offering its diabetes drug at that price – $499 per month – to eligible cash patients through its own pharmacy and a partnership with telehealth company Goodrx.
• Pfizer – In August 2024, the company launched a direct-to-consumer service called PfizerForall, which helps patients schedule telehealth services, fill prescriptions and access savings programs for the company’s migraine, Covid-19 and Flum medications.
• Astrazeneca – In September, the company announced the launch of AstraZeneca Direct, which will directly sell its diabetes drug Farxiga and two asthma treatments to U.S. cash-paying patients at a discount of up to 70% off their list prices. People with prescriptions for these medications will be able to order them on the platform starting October 1.
• Novartis – In September, the company said it will launch a direct-to-consumer platform on November 1, allowing cash-pay patients to prescribe its Cosentyx immunology drugs to purchase at a 55% discount off list price. The discount lowers the list price of the drug to just over $3,500 from less than $8,000 per month. The company said Cosentyx would serve as a way to test the sales model. If successful, the company will offer a direct-to-consumer option for additional medications and explore a similar approach for large employers “as another way to increase access and affordability.”
• Bristol Myers Squibb – The drugmaker and its partner, Pfizer, in July announced the launch of a direct-to-patient online program, Eliques 360 Support, which began selling the blockbuster Blood Blood Diner at a 43% discount to cash-paying patients in September. Bristol Myers Squibb expanded its direct-to-consumer offerings in September, announcing that the BMS Patient Connect platform will offer plaque psoriasis medication Sotyktu at a discount of more than 80% off list price to eligible cash-pay patients in the United States starting in January.
• Phre – The U.S. pharmaceutical lobby group said it will launch a new website, Americasmedicines.com, next January to help patients buy prescription drugs directly from manufacturers.

We expect the pharmaceutical industry to reach more drug pricing deals with Trump, which could include new direct-to-consumer models for drugs, so stay tuned for our coverage.

Feel free to send tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika in a new email: annika.constantino@versantmedia.com.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz has an ambitious list of goals at the agency to help improve the nation’s health care system. I spoke with him about his biggest priorities during a wide-ranging discussion at the Aspen Institute on Monday.

Regarding Affordable Care Act sign-ups, he expressed hope that Congress will reach an agreement to end the ongoing government shutdown and extend ACA tax credits set to expire at the end of the year. With the purchasing period for ACA Open Enrollment beginning October 15, the clock is ticking.

In Medicaid, Oz said CMS is moving forward to help states leverage technology to implement new work requirements verification rules enacted by Congress earlier this year. He said the agency was in talks with tech startups he called “insurgents” to connect them with states to streamline the rollout.

“The goal would be to give states multiple options,” Oz said. “Choose the thing that you think works best with you and your current system and platform that you have.”

One of his biggest goals is to make drugs more affordable for Americans, he said.

“I believe that by the time the president’s term is up — and I made this commitment to him — 95 percent of all drugs in America will be at prices that we can feel proud of,” he said.

He touted President Donald Trump’s most favored drug pricing effort and the Trumprx direct sales platform in large part. He also endorsed negotiations on Medicare drug prices under the Inflation Reduction Act as another piece of the puzzle, saying his team had “negotiated aggressively” in the current round of talks.

Then the discussion got really interesting when I asked him what he thought about Medicare paying for expensive GLP-1 weight loss drugs.

He said that as a doctor, he is intrigued by what the drugs can do. But then he refused insurance coverage. “That’s the only question I’m going to have to kick,” he replied, adding “we’re in the middle of a lot of action, but you’ll hear more soon.”

During Trump’s first term, the administration pushed drugmakers and pharmacy benefit managers to cut costs to $35 a month. This is now the Medicare rule.

Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic is among the drugs now subject to price negotiations for 2027. You can’t help but wonder if Oz is looking to exploit this Medicare cut price on the healthcare system.

Listen to this part of the discussion here.

Feel free to send tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Bertha at bertha.coombs@versantmedia.com.