Amazon Pharmacy starts offering Novo Nordisk's Wegovy weight-loss pill

Close-up of a hand holding a cellphone displaying the Amazon Pharmacy system, Lafayette, California, September 15, 2021.Smith Collection | Gado | Getty ImagesAmazon announced Friday it now offers Novo Nordisk's Wegovy weight-loss pill through its digital pharmacy.Novo Nordisk began rolling out an oral version of its injectable obesity drug Wegovy in the U.S. on Monday, offering a starting dose for cash-paying patients at $149 per month. Patients with insurance coverage can get the pill for as low as $25 a month. The daily pill enters the market with some of the lowest cash prices in the booming obesity and diabetes drug space, which costly weekly injections from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have long dominated. Its availability on Amazon underscores Novo Nordisk's strategy to expand beyond traditional channels and reach new patients.Amazon said eligible customers with insurance can pay as little as $25 for a one-month supply of the drug. Its cash-pay option will start at $149 a month. In the coming weeks, Amazon said it will also offer the Wegovy pill through its prescription vending kiosks, which are located in select One Medical clinics. The e-commerce giant launched Amazon Pharmacy in 2020 as part of its deeper push into the multitrillion-dollar U.S. health-care industry. The service was born out of its acquisition of online pharmacy PillPack for roughly $750 million in 2018. It then bought primary-care clinic One Medical in 2022 for $3.9 billion. Amazon has sought to attract users to its service by offering speedy delivery and price transparency. It offers same-day prescription delivery to nearly half of U.S. consumers, Amazon said. The company hasn't disclosed how many users Amazon Pharmacy has, but analysts have estimated it could generate about $2 billion in annual revenue. In October, WeightWatchers said it would partner with Amazon Pharmacy to deliver weight-loss medications for its members. Amazon Pharmacy has also collaborated with Eli Lilly to help deliver certain prescription medications, including its obesity drug Zepbound, purchased through the drugmaker's direct-to-consumer website.After its launch this week, the Novo Nordisk pill is also available at more than 70,000 U.S. pharmacies such as CVS and Costco, as well as select telehealth providers, including Ro, LifeMD, Weight Watchers, GoodRx and Novo Nordisk's NovoCare Pharmacy.Cash-paying patients will also be able to access the starting dose of the pill for $149 per month on President Donald Trump's direct-to-consumer website, TrumpRx, under a deal Novo Nordisk struck with his administration in November. The site also launches in January, though it's unclear when.Health experts say oral options could expand obesity treatment access in the U.S., likely reaching entirely new people who were afraid of needles or believed injections were too serious or aggressive for them to start.Eli Lilly has a rival obesity pill that is slated to win Food and Drug Administration approval later this year.