Eli Lilly has launched a unique website to connect U.S. patients seeking obesity treatment to doctors, dieticians and its new weight-loss drug, Zepbound.
The drugmaker said Thursday it will use the site, called LillyDirect, to pair visitors with third-party mail-order pharmacies for prescriptions and to care providers through a virtual medical weight-loss clinic.
The site also offers a directory for in-person care and help with insulins and migraine treatments.
Lilly says the doctors connected through the website are independent and not paid to promote its products, and the drugmaker also isn’t paid to send referrals to them.
In November, U.S. regulators approved Zepbound, a version of the popular diabetes treatment Mounjaro, to be used as a weight-loss treatment. The drug joins Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy in a hot field for care, chronic weight management.
This is a bit tricky. It’s almost like those “ask your doctor if ___ is right for you” commercials except they are connecting you to the doctor as well.
The doctors will hopefully not be too heavily encouraged to just prescribe whatever the site/patient recommend without a regular evaluation.
Eli Lily clearly thinks this can boost demand for their medications. Increased, easier access to medical care is a good thing. Making medical care a part of the sales motion probably is not.
Hopefully this will be implemented in a way that leads to good health outcomes.