AstraZeneca launches DTC platform amid US pricing pressures
AstraZeneca has launched a web-based direct-to-consumer (DTC) medication platform within the US, becoming a member of a rising listing of corporations choosing the mannequin in a bid to chop drug costs amid strain from President Donald Trump.
The launch of the AstraZeneca Direct platform will enable AstraZeneca to promote diabetes and bronchial asthma medicine on to cash-paying sufferers within the US at a step low cost of as much as 70% off listing costs.
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Ranging from 1 October 2025, eligible sufferers will be capable to instantly buy Airsupra (albuterol/budesonide) or Farxiga (dapaglifozin) from the UK drugmaker’s DTC pharmacy. Sufferers may even be capable to order the Flumist influenza nasal spray vaccine for residence supply by way of AstraZeneca Direct.
Bronchial asthma medicine Airsupra’s listing value is $489.25 per inhaler, though AstraZeneca capped the month-to-month value for inhaled respiratory medicines at $35 from June 2025. Persistent kidney illness therapy Farxiga prices $599.72 for a month’s provide. Farxiga is one in every of AstraZeneca’s top-selling merchandise, producing $7.7bn in world gross sales in 2024 – translating to about 14% of the corporate’s whole income. Airsupra, in the meantime, made $66m final yr.
AstraZeneca’s US president Joris Silon mentioned: “We stay deeply dedicated to enhancing accessibility, affordability, and driving innovation in healthcare, and we’re excited to launch AstraZeneca Direct, which is able to give sufferers a clear money value with the comfort of residence supply.
“The programme enhances our current affected person assist providers and is a crucial step ahead in providing sufferers the medicine they want, when and the way they want it.”
The platform launch by the drugmaker is about in opposition to a backdrop of adjusting drug costs within the US amid strain from President Trump.
In Could 2025, the White Home mentioned that it will “facilitate direct-to-consumer buying programmes for pharmaceutical producers that promote their merchandise to American sufferers on the most-favoured-nation (MFN) value”.
Trump’s MFN mannequin goals to chop drug costs within the US such that they match the bottom costs in different developed international locations. In August, he despatched a letter to main pharmaceutical producers calling on them to take steps to slash costs of merchandise.
AstraZeneca’s platform launch comes only a day after Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) expanded its DTC choices to incorporate autoimmune drug Sotyktu (deucravacitinib). BMS will provide Sotyktu to eligible, cash-paying sufferers for greater than 80% cheaper than the drug’s present listing value.
Novo Nordisk launched a direct-to-patient supply choice for its flagship weight reduction drug Wegovy (semaglutide) within the US, slashing the value of the drug for cash-paying sufferers with out insurance coverage protection. By NovoCare Pharmacy, the drugmaker slashed the associated fee for all doses of its glucagon-like peptide-receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) to $499 per 30 days, a hefty low cost to the present listing value of $1,349. Exorbitant weight reduction drug costs within the nation have been referred to as out by Trump in a gathering on the White Home earlier within the yr.
For AstraZeneca, the platform launch within the US comes amid uncertainty within the wider business. The corporate is one in every of a number of UK-based drugmakers coping with a new pharmaceutical product tariff charge imposed by Trump on 26 September. This additionally is available in the identical week that worldwide financial institution HSBC dethroned AstraZeneca because the UK’s most useful listed firm.
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