Peter Loftus

There is a segment of patients that just either doesn't have insurance or doesn't have great insurance.

And so sometimes it's to their advantage for the companies to offer those patients a significant cash discount because otherwise they might not even get their business at all.

It often starts with a website that the drug manufacturers have set up.

Patients can go there if they already have a prescription from the doctor or they could actually connect you with certain doctors, which then could eventually lead to ordering that company's drug or maybe another company's drug.

The price is often discounted and they could order the drug online like you would go through Amazon to do and then have it delivered to your home.

There is a segment of patients that just either doesn't have insurance or doesn't have great insurance.

And so sometimes it's to their advantage for the companies to offer those patients a significant cash discount because otherwise they might not even get their business at all.

You know, this has become particularly popular recently.

For the weight loss drugs, there's sort of intrinsic demand from patients.

They want to be on this drug.

But also, there's still not great insurance coverage.

And so they would normally, you know, they would have to pay the full list price, which could be like $1,000 a month or more.

The manufacturers are saying, we can offer you a discount that brings it down to, you know, as low as $150, $200 a month, because it's better than not getting any business from the patient, essentially.

Pharmacy benefit managers, which are companies that administer drug benefit plans on behalf of insurers or your employer plan.

They've been this sort of middleman in the industry that negotiates prices for these drugs.

CVS Caremark is one, Express Scripts is one, OptumRx.

The drug companies say that that can really distort the pricing.

And so by going directly to the patient, that's a way to get around the middlemen and just offer a discounted price that is what it is.

The industry trade group for these pharmacy benefit managers, they say that they believe they offer valuable services that also result in lower net pricing for everybody involved.

And if patients are dealing with their pharmacy, that's an extra level of protection, making sure that they're taking the right drug and not having drug interactions, that sort of thing.