Amazon will carry Eli Lilly medications through its Amazon Pharmacy storefront, the online retailer announced in a March 13 blog post. Amazon will deliver the prescriptions through a deal with LillyDirect, the pharmaceutical company’s direct-to-consumer arm.
Eli Lilly launched LillyDirect in January 2024 as a way to connect patients with telehealth providers, who can write prescriptions for medications that treat obesity, diabetes and migraines. Patients can also access the home delivery portion of LillyDirect without using its telehealth services.
The program initially launched with delivery from online pharmacy TruePill. Eli Lilly says medications may be delivered by either Amazon or TruePill, depending on the customer’s insurance coverage. Amazon says it will deliver the prescriptions in two days, which is the standard Prime delivery window.
Eli Lilly currently offers 14 medications through LillyDirect, and it says it will add more regularly. So far, the list includes the company’s recently approved weight-loss drug, Zepbound. It has seen “significant interest in the platform” so far, Eli Lilly said in a statement without revealing how many members have signed up.
Amazon ranks No. 1 in the Top 1000, Digital Commerce 360’s ranking of the largest North American online retailers. Amazon is also No. 3 in Digital Commerce 360’s Global Online Marketplaces Database, which ranks the 100 largest such marketplaces by 2023 third-party GMV.
Eli Lilly and demand for weight-loss drugs
Eli Lilly is just one pharmaceutical company to sell a new class of weight-loss drugs in 2023. Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic also gained popularity. J.P. Morgan predicted that the market for these GLP-1 drugs, which are used to treat Type 2 diabetes and obesity, could exceed $100 billion in 2030. The firm also anticipates there will be 30 million U.S. users by that point.
Manufacturers have struggled to keep the medications in stock as demand skyrocketed.
Amazon’s history in health care
Amazon first launched its online pharmacy in 2020. That was two years after the retailer spent $753 million to acquire online pharmacy PillPack.
In 2023, Amazon delved further into health care by completing its $3.49 billion acquisition of primary care provider One Medical.
“As we continue to make it easier for people to get and stay healthy, we have identified areas where we can reposition resources so we can invest in invention and experiences that have a direct impact on our customers and members of all ages,” Neil Lindsay, head of Amazon Health Services, wrote in an internal memo at the time. “Unfortunately, these changes will result in the elimination of a few hundred roles across One Medical and Amazon Pharmacy.”
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