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Social media-fueled consumer demand for weight loss medications has been a boon for GLP-1 drug manufacturers and telehealth companies. The craze is also driving health and wellness marketers and food sellers to reconsider brand and marketing strategies to meet the changing needs of GLP-1 patients.

Pfizer, Eli Lilly, and Novo Nordisk have recently launched D2C models that involve partnerships with telehealth companies, direct sales of some pharma products, and online medication delivery.

Novo is forging tie-ups with pharmacies instead of telehealth companies—a different D2C approach than Lilly’s. This is an important distinction since most consumers get their prescriptions at a local pharmacy. Self-pay customers can get Lilly’s Zepbound at a discounted price, but only through Lilly’s D2C online platform or via telehealth companies the drugmaker partners with, like Ro or Sesame.

Roger Marshall (R-KS) proposed legislation to enforce FDA regulation of social media and telehealth ads, while Durbin and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced a bill to force pharma companies to list drug prices in their direct-to-consumer ads.HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeatedly advocated for stricter regulations or even ban on pharma advertising.

They partner with telehealth providers who can prescribe the manufacturer’s products, with the aim of improving access to certain medications that often aren’t covered by insurance, such as weight loss drugs. Yes, but: Most prescription drug spending is covered by insurance, even as more pharma players enter the D2C market.

Efforts to move into drug development and telehealth never paid off. Wojcicki previously tried to take 23andMe private, but a strategic disagreement with the board last year drove all of its members to resign. The company never turned a profit and recorded a net loss of $667 million in fiscal year 2024 before going bankrupt.

Amazon also had a marketplace where customers could search for care among different telehealth providers, but recently scaled that back. The big takeaway: There are two main differences between other platforms and General Medicine. It lets people pay via insurance (Sesame and Amazon are cash-pay only) and shows upfront pricing that takes an individual’s health plan information into account.

Zooming out: Consumers have grown comfortable with using a range of digital health tools, including patient portals (92%), telehealth (82%), pharmacy delivery services (67%), and at-home diagnostic testing kits (62%). Surveyed consumers believe healthcare technology improves engagement with physicians (77%) and is a cost-effective way to maintain their health (73%).

The backstory: Amazon expanded its healthcare ambitions last year, adding same-day prescription drug delivery and integrating its D2C telehealth venture Amazon Clinic into One Medical. One Medical added pay-per-visit pricing of $29 for messaging appointments and $49 for video visits last year in direct competition with telehealth companies like Hims & Hers and Ro.

Lilly has recently inked similar deals with several other telehealth companies, including Noom and Sesame. For its part, Novo hasn’t affiliated itself with any telehealth providers. But it just cut the price of Wegovy to $499 per month for cash-pay patients using Novo’s D2C online platform. Our take: Hims may have burned bridges with the two biggest players in the GLP-1 drug market.

The study measures satisfaction with websites and digital apps across five factors (in order of importance): visual appeal, navigation, information/content, speed, and telehealth.

Ä¢¹½AV one-third said they would consider AI for various medical purposes, including remote monitoring (35%), predictive health alerts (33%), and virtual health help (31%). Our take: AI health agents add personalization and access to new health information for time-crunched consumers. But for now, the chatbots are still more advice generators than replacements for real doctor recommendations.

The trend: We’ve seen more telehealth and D2C health companies tap into markets for hormone replacement therapy for women in perimenopause and menopause and testosterone replacement therapy for men. Vitamin Shoppe and Marius Pharmaceuticals recently rolled out a program that offers the drugmaker’s prescription testosterone replacement therapy capsules over telehealth.

But NovoCare is taking a different approach by not directly partnering with telehealth providers to prescribe Wegovy. Lilly and Pfizer are being scrutinized by a group of US senators who are concerned that telehealth clinicians who work with the pharma companies will be incentivized to prescribe their drugs even if they’re not medically necessary.

PoC advertising can be displayed via digital screens in doctors’ offices or during telehealth visits and can be used to convey information about medications and treatments. Sources. Mediaocean. MediaRadar. Medical Marketing & Media. Swoop.

Drug manufacturers, health tech entities, and telehealth providers are starting to cut out industry middlemen such as insurers and pharmacy benefit managers that can bottleneck patient access to companies’ products and services. New healthcare and pharma D2C business ventures will emerge in 2025.

Digging into the data: Ä¢¹½AV 60% of consumers currently use a patient portal, making it the most used digital health tool—ahead of emails, texts, and telehealth. Consumers value using digital tools to communicate with healthcare providers, access their medical data, and book and receive care. 75% say it’s somewhat or very important for them to use digital tools to connect with the healthcare system.

Pfizer’s health answers service follows last year’s launch of a D2C platform where patients can connect to telehealth providers and order over-the-counter health products. These offerings put Pfizer ahead of traditional pharma company websites that contain resources to help patients, such as educational information on medications and treatments, drug discount cards, and insurance-related assistance.

What’s the greatest value of telehealth? The debate over telehealth’s ability to reduce healthcare spending doesn’t tell the whole story of how virtual care benefits providers and patients.

WeightWatchers enters the Rx business for obesity: Its acquisition of medication-based weight loss program Sequence signals an emerging digital health market trend—but consumers must be cautious of telehealth startups' claims.

Which companies are and aren’t threatening health systems? Incumbent providers should be keeping tabs on retail and tech conglomerates instead of telehealth-focused players.

Big retailers are accumulating assets from across the healthcare ecosystem. This includes adding pharmacy and health insurance capabilities, as well as provider services such as home health, telehealth, primary, specialty, and urgent care.