Amazon.com has announced that its online pharmacy will automatically apply manufacturer-sponsored coupons to over 15 insulin and diabetes medicines. This move aims to help patients access the discounts pledged by the drug industry. With this new program, patients using Amazon Pharmacy will no longer have to search for and manually enter coupons from the three largest insulin makers, Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, and Sanofi, to lower the cost of their insulin. The cost can now be reduced to as little as $35 for a month’s supply.
In March, Novo, Lilly, and Sanofi announced that they would slash their insulin prices by at least 70% by 2024. However, a report from Senator Elizabeth Warren revealed that some patients were struggling to obtain already discounted generic insulin from pharmacies at the promised lower price. Despite Lilly lowering the list price of its Insulin Lispro to $25 per vial in May, patients were still being quoted as much as $330 for the medicine. They were also not being informed about cheaper options when visiting pharmacies and found it difficult to use Lilly’s savings program.
Vin Gupta, Amazon Pharmacy’s Chief Medical Officer, emphasized the need to make it easier for patients to access insulin at the lowest possible prices. He stated that transparency is key in achieving this goal. In addition to insulin and diabetes medicines, Amazon Pharmacy will also automatically apply available discounts to diabetes-related medical devices from manufacturers Dexcom and Insulet, as well as other cardiometabolic medicines.
The American Diabetes Association Chief Executive Officer, Charles Henderson, praised Amazon’s automated discounting, stating that it will help the 37 million Americans with diabetes to more easily access the treatments they need. Amazon has been actively working to attract customers away from established pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens since launching its healthcare business in late 2020. The company recently announced that it has doubled its active pharmacy users over the past year.
Amazon Pharmacy Vice President John Love emphasized that customers have many choices and will choose what is best for them. He stated that Amazon will continue to create options that give customers access to medications. The move by Amazon to automatically apply manufacturer-sponsored coupons is expected to provide greater convenience and affordability for patients in need of insulin and diabetes medicines.
