Pfizer is expanding its direct-to-patient sales offerings.
On Tuesday, the New York pharma launched a new website, called PfizerForAll, that connects patients to clinicians who can prescribe its migraine drugs, such as Nurtec, and respiratory and Covid-19 products, including its antiviral pill Paxlovid. Patients can also order diagnostic tests and schedule appointments at pharmacies for vaccinations.
It’s the latest move by a large pharma company to sell more directly to patients, especially as health tech startups have opened up new online sales channels. In January, Eli Lilly announced a service called LillyDirect to give patients more direct access to its diabetes, obesity and migraine drugs.
Pfizer launched the initiative to make it easier for patients to access its treatments and bypass some of the bureaucracy of the brick-and-mortar healthcare system, Aamir Malik, the company’s chief US commercial officer, told Endpoints News in an interview.
“If you’re suffering from a migraine or if you’re down with a bout of Covid, the last thing that you really need is the pain that comes with navigating that whole system: making phone calls, trying to get everything figured out,” Malik said. “And so there’s a really significant need for a way to simplify and make care access easier for consumers.”
Pfizer filed a trademark application earlier this year that hinted at its plans for a direct-to-consumer push.
But this isn’t completely new territory for Pfizer. Like some other pharma companies, Pfizer has connected patients to telehealth services on certain individual brand websites and will continue to do so. While PfizerForAll will initially be focused on respiratory illnesses and migraine, Malik said there’s an opportunity to broaden it.
“We’re going to let the consumer’s voice guide us as to whether or not inclusion of other therapeutic areas and products is appropriate, as well as which features of the current platform are going to be most compelling,” Malik said.
He added that the website would be a natural fit for areas in which consumers are very involved in their healthcare, and where there’s a lot of unmet need.
Pfizer has had a tumultuous couple of years as Covid-related product sales have dropped and it’s been forced to cut billions in costs. It’s not clear to what extent the direct-to-consumer push will drive more sales. On an earnings call in late April, a Lilly executive said a “relatively low volume” of prescriptions for its popular obesity drug Zepbound were coming from LillyDirect as of the first quarter.
“What’s central for us with PfizerForAll is lots of positive engagement, great patient experience, and those things are going to naturally lead to positive patient impact. And if we have positive patient impact, it’s going to lead to a positive impact for Pfizer,” Malik said.
Pfizer partnered with UpScriptHealth to provide telehealth visits, Alto Pharmacy to deliver prescriptions to patients’ homes, and Instacart to deliver Covid and flu tests. The decision to prescribe a treatment will be up to the independent clinician and won’t necessarily be a Pfizer drug, Malik said.
Though UpScriptHealth doesn’t work with health insurers, Pfizer’s website will provide information and a live customer support option to help patients navigate the insurance process, a Pfizer spokesperson said.