Santa Monica-based GoodRx Holdings Inc., which operates a prescription price comparison shopping platform, has launched a subscription service designed to be a one-stop shop for patients with erectile dysfunction.
The service offers these patients telehealth visits with licensed health care professionals, access to Food and Drug Administration-approved medications and discrete package delivery service, as well as information on the condition.
GoodRx’s main platform allows consumers to compare prescription prices from more than 70,000 participating pharmacies. The platform is used by nearly 30 million consumers and more than 1 million health care professionals annually, the company said.
Nearly 30% of men report difficulty in achieving or maintaining an erection without medication, while fewer than 14% say they are receiving any treatment for the condition, according to research cited by GoodRx in a report.
“This reluctance is driven by inadequate coverage of ED treatments by many insurance plans, as well as concerns around the social stigma associated with seeking help for such conditions,” the GoodRx report said.
“We recognize that many men delay or entirely avoid treatment for ED due to stigma, costs and the inconvenience of traditional healthcare pathways,” Katelyn Pelak, the company’s vice president and head of product, said in the announcement. “Our new subscription service removes these obstacles, providing a straightforward, affordable solution that respects and protects the privacy and time of our customers.”
Bolstered offerings
The GoodRx subscription service starts as low as $18 per month, which according to health care analyst John Ransom with St. Petersburg, Florida-based Raymond James and Associates, is roughly 25% less than the main competitor in this market, the Hims unit of San Francisco-based Hims and Hers Inc.
Separately, GoodRx announced last month that it is offering a new service called Community Link, which allows independently owned community pharmacies to directly contract with the company instead of operating through middlemen known as pharmacy benefit managers.
This direct contracting model is based on cost-plus pricing, which tacks on a fixed percentage markup to the basic cost for the pharmacies of providing the prescriptions.
“Our goal with Community Link is to help improve the retail pharmacy business model and support a bright future for the sector,” said Aaron Crittenden, the company’s president of Rx marketplace.
