Amazon Pharmacy’s GLP-1 Expansion Is a Huge Deal | Fast Five Shorts

Amazon Pharmacy is now offering same day delivery of the Ozempic pill and only FDA.

The only, excuse me, the only FDA approved oral GLP1 medication to treat type 2 diabetes.

And they're offering it to nearly 3,000 cities and towns with plans to expand to nearly 4,500 cities by year end and will soon dispense the medication within minutes through licensed pharmacist supported kiosks as well at select one medical locations immediately following patient appointments, according to an Amazon press release via Business Wire.

With insurance, pricing for this will start as low as $25 per month.

For cash pay customers, pricing begins at $149 per month with manufactured sponsored savings offers applied automatically before checkout.

A1 Medical subscription, which costs $199 per year, is not required to book an appointment and use the kiosk either.

This expansion builds on Amazon's $4 billion plus investment last year in delivery infrastructure aimed at tripling its Delivery options in 2026, with particular focus on small towns and rural areas.

Catherine, does the advent of GLP1 medication make Amazon more or less of a threat in the pharmacy business?

That's my first question.

And second, if you are a grocer that uses a pharmacy to drive traffic, how scared should you be by same day Ozempic pill delivery from Amazon?

Yeah, I, I think both, I think grocery and standalone pharmacies are certainly, you know, they were already, I mean there's already been a lot of news about Amazon and their, their pharmacy offering and delivery and how convenient it is.

And I think, you know, if you go in to a grocery store and you're shopping and you're getting your prescription, okay, but if you're going somewhere just to get a prescription, it can be a pain in the butt sometimes.

So I think this is huge, Chris.

I mean last I, last I saw There was like 1 in 8Americans that are on GLP1s and the ones that aren't, there's a large chunk of people that just can't afford it.

You know, the shots at one point were like thousands.

I think now, you know, you can get different coupons and stuff.

They might be like 300, $400, but the cost of these pills is going to be more than 50% less than that.

So there is a whole nother consumer, you know, coming into this, this business here.

And I also think the fact that they can get these now from these kiosks and they don't have to see a doctor and they can see it like in their more privacy, there's not that stigma about them getting it.

I think a lot of people are going to come out of the woodwork now and want to leverage this.

So I think, you know, pair this new offering with the beloved Amazon same day delivery.

I think this is going to be huge.

I can't think of another retailer, I mean outside of Walmart, I can't think of anybody else that's going to be able to compete with us.

I, I 100 agree.

I think this is really, this is really, this is really big news.

My flippant response, if I want to be flippant, which I sometimes like to be, my flippant response to this headline was like, well, Amazon doesn't need a grocery strategy because if they win this RX battle, people are just going to stop eating food.

They're not going to eat as much.

So groceries going to be a dying business.

Why does Amazon need to focus on it like they have?

But you know, if I get serious about it, my answer is, my answer to the questions I ask you is very similar.

I think, I think for sure it makes Amazon a bigger threat in pharmacy.

Just the rise of GLP1s in general is a huge gift to Amazon because it gives people a reason to try out a new pharmacy service and to convert their prescriptions over because timing of deliveries is key for pharmacy delivery and that's what still prevents people from wanting to jump into it.

But Amazon has the faith in of the consumer and the reputation that they will deliver on time.

So that's number one.

And then to the second question I asked you.

I think I would be, I think I would be really scared if I were a grocery because now it gives Amazon an angle into adding that add on food purchase into your pharmacy order, which is the game they've been playing as of late.

You know as well, like just yesterday they did the 30 minute or less delivery announcement too.

So, and as the other point you have to think about here too, Catherine, is the full grocery store stock up trip.

You know, for the average consumer there's going to be less and less of those because people aren't going to be eating as much, right?

And so it's going to hit, it's going to hit the groceries on multiple fronts.

It's going to hit you in terms of RX usage, in terms of the traffic that's coming into your store.

If you happen to have a pharmacy in your grocery store, it's going to hurt your number of trips just in general to the grocery store and it's going to hurt your basket size.

So this helps me, when I step back from this.

It also helps me to understand why companies like Albertsons particularly have made efforts to deliver RX through curbside pickup of late.

It's to thwart this coming.

And so that's.

Those are the type of announcements, it sounds like you're very similar.

Those are the types of announcements that I'm going to be keeping my eye on.

Because you're right, there are very few people outside of Walmart that on a national scale can compete with this.

And you know, and it's not going to help Walgreens and CVS one bit either because they depend on that, on that traffic to those items at the price points at which they carry them too.

Right, Right.

Yeah.

So, I mean, I think with, I think with everything that people are already getting from Amazon, you can add this in.

The convenience, the buying power that Amazon has to keep the prices down on this type of drug.

I think we'll have to see what happens.

But this is going to bring a whole new segment of customers into the GLP1 market.

So it's, it's going to be interesting.

You know, there already has been an impact out there in grocery retail because of GLP1s.

You know, I mean, now people are buying more, you know, protein and more health and wellness types of goods.

But I think, I think we'll, we'll be able to see probably six months to a year after this rolls out.