蘑菇AV

The news: The Trump administration is mulling new policies to make pharma advertising more difficult, per a Bloomberg report. Our take: RFK previously acknowledged the First Amendment hurdles in an outright pharma ad ban. But if he takes an alternate path with new D2C ad regulations, it鈥檚 a win for the industry. Pharma companies can budget for extra media costs of additional TV time and the loss of ad tax deductions, but they get to keep D2C advertising.

The news: Novo Nordisk is terminating its short-lived partnership with Hims & Hers. The drugmaker is accusing Hims of illegally selling knockoff versions of Wegovy, while deceptively marketing its compounded GLP-1 products. Our take: Hims will likely regret its refusal to cooperate with Novo and Eli Lilly, who have taken control of the D2C weight loss drug market.

The news: GoodRx is rolling out a subscription service for erectile dysfunction (ED) treatment. Our take: GoodRx is in a great position to compete with the top D2C telehealth players since consumers are already on the site or app searching for prescription drug discounts鈥攊t has over 6 million active monthly consumers who use a coupon code. GoodRx might also be more trusted than pure-play telehealth companies in the eyes of consumers since its services help people save money on their healthcare.

Medtronic spins out diabetes business into D2C company: Amid growing diabetes diagnoses, Medtronic is doubling down on its focus with a device company dedicated to helping consumers with diabetes.

Healthcare costs for Americans who have employer-sponsored health insurance spike 7% annually: Employers will need to be more restrictive with their plan offerings, creating an opportunity for D2C healthcare brands to reel in new customers.

Healthcare and pharma companies are embracing D2C business models to get their medications, treatments, and services to more consumers without industry middlemen restricting access. Concurrently, patients are becoming more price-conscious healthcare shoppers, propelling more D2C activity next year.

Levi Strauss sharpens its focus: The company agreed to sell Dockers to Authentic Brands as it looks to grow its D2C sales and expand its international presence.

D2C shoppers want fast delivery speed: Survey shows they are less interested in the story behind a brand and more concerned about basic operational execution.

Rapidly growing healthcare providers are reinvesting in online marketing: Incumbents must embrace social and search marketing to ward off competition from telehealth and D2C providers.

Eli Lilly adds Alzheimer鈥檚 treatments, resources to D2C platform: Lilly is progressing its D2C online offerings even as lawmakers ramp up scrutiny of drugmaker-telehealth partnerships.