The cash-pay discount hub will offer fewer drugs than GoodRx and have limited reach, but drugmakers must still promote it to drive prescription volumes, especially for uninsured drugs.

An FTC settlement and newly passed legislation in Congress scraps rebate tactics and formulary bias, chipping away at PBM pricing power.

Promoting savings via pharmacies, doctors, and online patient forums could help raise awareness of these coupons and pass on the savings needed to reduce prescription nonadherence.

Among patients newly prescribed GLP-1s for obesity, 90% either never start therapy or discontinue within a year. Novo and Lilly are using their direct-to-consumer online pharmacies to improve adherence, giving them clearer insight into why patients don’t fill or refill prescriptions to offer targeted support. Beyond that, drugmakers should work with their telehealth partners and pharmacies to give patients resources on managing side effects, navigating insurance issues, and understanding why maintenance dosing remains important after achieving some weight loss.

Our exclusive research reveals what factors are influencing the path to purchase for personal care and beauty products.

Pharma marketers are increasingly investing in point-of-care (POC) marketing. Pharma marketers should be able to effectively integrate traditional media advertising with POC content. For example, marketers could use similar wording, data, and testimonials in a TV/online campaign as they do in a POC ad to improve audience retention. Similarly, a TV commercial may spark initial awareness of a prescription drug, while POC ads reinforce it with QR codes or digital resources that patients can explore in the waiting room, or cost-saving information provided at the pharmacy counter.

A generic version of the abortion pill mifepristone was quietly approved by the FDA before the federal government shutdown. Pharmacies need to provide clear, state-specific guidance so consumers don’t have to guess about access in their area. They can create discreet information channels that ensure consumers’ confidentiality while seeking information, such as secure online consultations with pharmacists or privacy-secure QR code links.

Latin America’s retail media ecosystem is expanding fast as new players, formats, and solutions draw in more ad dollars. But limited self-service offerings and the lack of standardized metrics hinder its full potential.

The news: Retail pharmacy chains and some state health agencies are changing how they navigate the upcoming vaccination season amid federal health agency policy and personnel shifts. Our take: Pharmacies have an opportunity to share information at the local level to ensure consumers are kept up-to-date on new vaccine rules in their state. They should create digital FAQs, be responsive to consumer questions on social media and in stores, and provide pharmacists with the latest information on vaccine access and restrictions through frequent one-on-one sessions. Not all consumers will be pleased with their pharmacy’s changes, but transparency and being a source of reliable information will help pharmacies build trust and loyalty in the confusing vaccine climate.

The news: The Trump administration recently met with leading retailers, including Amazon and Walmart, to explore ways in which more US consumers can get their prescription medications directly from pharma manufacturers, according to a Bloomberg report. Our take: It’s unrealistic to expect pharma’s middlemen to be cut out anytime soon, as they are so deeply rooted in the US healthcare infrastructure.

The news: US pharma imports returned to normal in April after a March stockpiling of drugs and medical products spurred by tariff threats from the Trump administration. The takeaway: Fluctuating tariff threats from the Trump administration means ongoing uncertainty for drugmakers. If the indecision lags for more than a few months, expect some pharma product stockpiling to return.

CVS, Cigna sue Arkansas to stop PBM-owned pharmacies ban: Owning both PBMs and pharmacies give them a lopsided advantage over independent pharmacies. It may be tough to push against the specter of more rural “pharmacy deserts.”

The walls are closing in on the largest pharmacy benefit managers: Vertically integrated healthcare conglomerates may soon have to separate their pharmacy operations from their PBM businesses.

UnitedHealth Group’s Optum Rx changes pharmacy reimbursement model: It will pay pharmacies more to dispense brand-name drugs. But that’s not enough to thwart off the Trump administration’s heat on pharmacy benefit managers like Optum.

Pharmacy closures, medication shortages threaten access to meds: We examine some digital tools that drugmakers and pharmacies should endorse to ensure patients stay on their prescriptions.