D2C will become a viable distribution channel for healthcare and pharma companies in 2025

The trend: More healthcare and pharma brands are selling prescription medications, treatments, and medical services directly to consumers.

Editor’s note: This article is part of our Health Trends to Watch in 2025 report. Read the report in full here.

How we got here: Drug manufacturers, digital health upstarts, and telehealth providers are cutting out industry middlemen such as insurers and pharmacy benefit managers. These gatekeepers are known to bottleneck patient access to companies’ products and services, typically through coverage restrictions.

As a result, a cohort of established and nontraditional industry players has recently entered the D2C healthcare market, including:

• Drug developers, such as Eli Lilly and Pfizer. In 2024, each rolled out a D2C website giving patients instant access to affiliated clinicians who can virtually prescribe the manufacturers’ drugs. Consumers can also order OTC products.
• Medical device-makers, such as Dexcom and Abbott. Both received clearance in 2024 from the FDA to sell OTC continuous glucose monitors (CGMs). Previously, the devices required a prescription and were meant for diabetic patients.
• Retail health providers, like Walgreens. It recently expanded its D2C telehealth service to offer cash-pay chat consultations or video visits for common health issues. The retailer hopes to offset financial losses from its failed primary care and health clinic endeavors by getting telehealth patients to fill prescriptions at Walgreens pharmacies.

The GLP-1 piece: Easy online access to GLP-1s is driving many consumers—particularly younger generations—to purchase a cash-pay membership at organizations that sell them, such as Hims & Hers.

• Over a quarter of consumers (27.2%) have subscribed to a company offering prescription medications, according to our December 2023 US Digital Health survey.

Yes, but: Regulators are starting to scrutinize some D2C pharma initiatives. Four US senators requested information from Lilly and Pfizer regarding the manufacturers’ relationships with contracted telehealth prescribers.

The senators are concerned that clinicians who work with pharma companies will be incentivized to prescribe their drugs to patients who may not need them. They believe D2C drug advertising combined with D2C telehealth makes it much more likely that a patient will receive a prescription without the same level of scrutiny as through more conventional channels.

Read next: Click here to read our complete list of predictions for D2C healthcare and pharma in 2025.

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