Eli Lilly: Inaugural US telehealth platform delivers weight-loss drugs

Pharmaceutical company, Eli Lilly, has introduced a dedicated website for US residents aimed at facilitating the prescription of weight-loss medications through a telehealth service.

Source: Eli Lilly

This initiative comes shortly after the recent availability of the company's new injectable product, Zepbound, in US pharmacies, catering to overweight or obese adults.

The website, LillyDirect, marks a pioneering move by a pharmaceutical company, as it enables telehealth providers to prescribe weight-loss drugs, in this case Lilly's Zepbound and Mounjaro, as well as Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy, all falling under the category of GLP-1 agonist medications.

Physicians affiliated with LillyDirect can prescribe any FDA-approved weight loss medication. However, eligibility for the at-home delivery service is restricted to patients specifically prescribed Lilly's Zepbound medication.

"We know that people have come to depend on the efficiency and convenience of digital solutions to meet a variety of their everyday needs – healthcare being one of them," said Frank Cunningham, group vice president, global value and access at Lilly."

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"We launched LillyDirect with the hope that it will offer patients an innovative end-to-end experience to manage their health and access their medicines, so they can get back to living their lives."

Individuals with a BMI of at least 30, or a BMI of at least 27 coupled with at least one weight-related medical condition, can use the website. Additionally, the platform will cater to patients with diabetes and migraines.