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Some major pharmaceutical companies are getting into the telehealth business. This could allow patients to skip a visit with their regular doctor and let companies sell their drugs directly to consumers. But is that a good idea? NPR pharmaceuticals correspondent Sydney Lupkin reports.
SYDNEY LUPKIN, BYLINE: Pfizer says it's launching a telehealth platform called Pfizer For All. Through it, consumers can get a limited selection of Pfizer products, COVID tests, vaccines, and migraine medications from start to finish. Pfizer is partnering with several existing telehealth and delivery companies, including Instacart, to fulfill orders. People can use the Pfizer site to book appointments with online healthcare providers, get prescriptions, and then fill them. Here's Dr. Ben Rome of Harvard University.
BEN ROME: That's different than, you know, typically where you have to have your prescription sent from your doctor to a pharmacy or a mail order pharmacy or an in-person brick-and-mortar pharmacy, and now they're trying to sort of cut out some of the intermediary pieces there.
LUPKIN: The Pfizer platform mirrors a similar direct-to-consumer offering Eli Lilly launched earlier this year for its diabetes, obesity and migraine drugs. Lilly said last week that it will also be offering vials of its obesity drug Zepbound at a steep discount, but only for people paying out of their own pocket and not using their insurance. Rome analyzed the Lilly health care website in an article for the medical journal JAMA. He said some patients will find the direct-to-consumer model convenient. However, there are risks that patients using drug company telehealth services could be pushed toward a drug just because it's Lilly's or Pfizer's.
ROME: We know from lots and lots of research that when there's kind of interactions between drug companies and doctors that doctors are more likely to prescribe expensive medications maybe in situations where they're not necessary.
LUPKIN: The drug companies say the telehealth providers will prescribe medicines based on what's best for patients. Dr. Robert Steinbrook, the head of health research at Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy group, isn't so sure.
ROBERT STEINBROOK: I just don't think this is a good idea. I understand the motivations and the marketing aspects of this. But to me, it's just something which can contribute to further fragmentation of care.
LUPKIN: He says patients should go to their primary care physicians when possible. Those are the doctors who know them best, know their medical histories, and can really talk about all the health risks and benefits of a given drug as it fits into that patient's care. And sometimes, he says, physicians can offer solutions that don't involve pharmaceutical products at all.
Sydney Lupkin, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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