Pharma

Blink Health launches free home delivery for discounted drugs

Previously the company's customers were required to pick up their medication at one of Blink's participating pharmacy partners after purchasing the items online.

New York-based Blink Health has introduced a free home delivery service as it looks to expand its business in providing low cost prescription drugs to patients.

Previously the company’s customers were required to pick up their medication at one of Blink’s participating pharmacy partners after purchasing the items through their mobile or web-based application.

“We provide Americans access to significant savings on their prescriptions, and now we’re offering another convenient way for getting their medications filled,” Blink Health CEO Geoffrey Chaiken said in a statement. “We’re adding home delivery because modern retail requires consumer choice and the integration of online, physical retail and delivery.”

While the company does not accept insurance, the movement to higher deductible health plans mean that patients are often exposed to the high list prices of medication.

Instead of feeding into this model, Blink Health works directly with pharmacies to personally negotiate lower prices on commonly used generic medication that it passes onto consumers. Blink Health makes money by taking a cut of that purchase.

Blink Health has also started to contract with drugmakers like Eli Lilly and Roche to provide branded medications at lower costs to patients.

The generic drug market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.9 percent from 2015 to 2027, according to visiongain, a London-based business intelligence provider covering the U.S., parts of Europe, Asia and emerging markets. The market is estimated at $254.6 billion in 2016, $384 billion in 2021, and $574.7 billion in 2027, the company noted.

Blink was founded in 2014 and has raised more than $165 million from investors as they look to bypass the middlemen in the traditional pharmaceutical sales supply chain.

Pharmacy benefit managers (PBM) are third party administrators who contract with pharmacies, negotiate discounts and rebates with drugmakers and process and pay prescription claims. PBMs have come under increased scrutiny as policymakers target high drug prices, with critics claiming that rebates and discounts negotiated by the organizations are not actually passed onto consumers.

Blink Health’s antagonistic relationship with industry has led to legal battles with its former PBM MedImpact Healthcare Systems after both Walgreens and CVS Health pulled out of the company’s pharmacy network.

The company later helped form St. Louis-based Blue Eagle Health, a pharmacy-benefit administrator that processes Blink’s prescription purchases. Currently the company has 33,000 pharmacy partners including Walmart, Costco and most major grocery chains.

The company’s trajectory has not been completely smooth. Besides the conflict with its former PBM, Blink Health filed a $250 million lawsuit earlier this year against competitor Hippo claiming that they participated in an “”unlawful copycat scheme.”

Hippo was co-founded by former Blink Health chief financial officer Eugene Kakaulin who sued the company for alleged breach of contract and violations of federal whistleblower law. That case was settled out of court.

Photo: Flickr, Vizzzual.com

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