By Amina Niasse
NEW YORK (Reuters) -WeightWatchers said on Monday it will partner with Amazon to deliver medications including injectable GLP-1 obesity treatments for its members, a move the telehealth provider said will make it easier for some customers to receive prescriptions.
WeightWatchers customers will be able to check whether their medications are in stock and have the refrigerated drugs delivered more efficiently by using the Amazon Pharmacy option on its website, said WeightWatchers Chief Operating Officer Jon Volkmann.
WeightWatchers, also known as WW International, emerged from bankruptcy in July having shed debt and with a plan to compete for online weight-loss customers.
While its rivals focused on compounded copies of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, WeightWatchers embraced the branded drugs, announcing a partnership with Novo to sell Wegovy to cash-pay customers through NovoCare and its partner CenterWell Pharmacy.
WeightWatchers will continue to allow patients to fill prescriptions through other pharmacies.
Demand for GLP-1 obesity treatments soared after clinical trials showed they helped people lose around 15% of body weight by making the stomach feel full.
In 2022, the drugs were declared in shortage by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Volkmann said during those shortages, WeightWatchers customers in rural areas experienced difficulty finding the drugs at in-person pharmacies.
Now, even with ample supplies of both drugs, Amazon said access in rural areas was still a problem.
“We know that with GLP-1s specifically, there has been an issue where folks are pharmacy hopping, looking for that inventory,” said Tanvi Patel, a vice president at Amazon Pharmacy.
This month, Amazon launched kiosks where patients at some of its One Medical clinics can pick up common prescriptions.
While Amazon sells GLP-1s by mail, drugs that require cold storage will not be available in the kiosks.
The company’s investment in speedy delivery, especially for perishable items, has allowed Amazon to maintain temperatures for GLP-1 shipments across the country, Patel said.
Shipping times for patients who subscribe to Amazon Prime, the e-commerce giant’s premium service, are one to two days for all medications.
Patel estimated an average four-day delivery time for non-Prime members, but said that shipping is often faster.
Amazon in June said it would provide same-day and next-day delivery to 4,000 additional locales by the end of this year, targeting small towns and rural areas, and invest over $4 billion to triple its delivery operations by 2026.
(Reporting by Amina Niasse; editing by Caroline Humer and Bill Berkrot)
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