Pfizer's vaccine business is so pfucked that they are going direct to patient Rx.
Pfizer filed a trademark application for “PfizerForAll” earlier this year that hinted at its plans for a direct-to-consumer push.
Direct to consumer advertising is of course not new in pharma, and many companies run separate consumer facing websites for various drug brands - i.e. “ask your doctor if Viagra is right for you, and here is a discount code.” Like some other pharma companies, Pfizer has connected patients to telehealth services on certain individual brand websites and will continue to do so. What is new and looks very desperate is to me is Pfizer will be issuing prescriptions directly to patients now, using a contracted service, UpScript. The website, PfizerForAll, will initially be focused on respiratory illnesses and migraine.
From the industry news:
Pfizer has had a tumultuous couple of years as Covid-related product sales have dropped and it’s been forced to cut billions in costs. It’s not clear to what extent the direct-to-consumer push will drive more sales. On an earnings call in late April, a Lilly executive said a “relatively low volume” of prescriptions for its popular obesity drug Zepbound were coming from LillyDirect as of the first quarter.
Yeah, it’s been tumultuous alright, $4-6 billion in cost cutting and laying off thousands of employees to be precise. After killing and maiming millions of people worldwide… So, the hope now is to milk the remaining brainwashed until those are totally dead…
In addition, Pfizer/BioNTech’s combo covid-flu shot has failed in Phase 3. And by “failed” we mean failed the fake efficacy endpoints of “geometric mean titers” which at best mean nothing, but likely measure your degree of anaphylaxis/injury to the immune system. Of course, this product is a poison that nobody needs anyway:
The companies’ Covid-flu vaccine didn’t meet the Phase 3 primary endpoint of non-inferior immunogenicity against influenza, in comparison with people who received separate Covid and flu vaccines. While the combo vaccine elicited a “robust” response against influenza A, it delivered lower geometric mean titers and seroconversion versus influenza B.
The combo vaccine did however meet the other primary endpoint of non-inferior immunogenicity against SARS-CoV-2 versus the companies’ marketed Covid vaccine Comirnaty. The study enrolled more than 8,000 adults aged 18 to 64 years old.
Pfizer’s head of vaccine research Annaliesa Anderson said in a statement that the company is “evaluating next steps” for the combined vaccine. The company has plans to potentially make tweaks to improve how it responds to influenza B and also meet with health authorities. Late last year, CEO Albert Bourla said Pfizer was planning to launch the combined vaccine in 2025.
They will probably be hawking this tweaked brew directly to the consumers on their new website:
Pfizer partnered with UpScriptHealth to provide telehealth visits, Alto Pharmacy to deliver prescriptions to patients’ homes, and Instacart to deliver Covid and flu tests.
Though UpScriptHealth doesn’t work with health insurers, Pfizer’s website will provide information and a live customer support option to help patients navigate the insurance process, a Pfizer spokesperson said.
That last part tells me this new plan will be a grand failure. It’s a non-starter for an online prescription business to have no insurance coverage, because those who believe their health comes at the end of the needle or in a pill also believe it’s all free.
Nevertheless, UpScript is the telehealth business powering much of pharma’s direct-to-consumer movement. The company, which has already more than 50 partnerships with individual drug brands or therapies, will have more than 30 new partnerships this year and expects to add more than 50 in 2025, CEO Peter Ax says (nice name). Compare that to a few years back, in 2022, when UpScript launched only seven new partnerships. “We're in discussions probably with every major pharma company in the world at this point,” he said. “There's extraordinary attention to this. I think the general consensus is this is a new channel of distribution and a new way to treat patients, and it's being embraced in a really significant way.”
Art for today: Sketch of wild horses, watercolor, 9x12 in.
An oncologist explained to me how she receives 1/3 of the money on every chemo injection.
"Let's say that I give an infusion. We charge the patient or insurer $3000. I get to KEEP a grand!" she exclaimed. Me: "You mean you make $1000 for an injection that you don't even administer?!"
"Yes!! I make an extra half-million a year in chemo money alone on top of my salary ($240k)" 2010 numbers btw. But I watched as the oncologists went on to cut the middleman (hospital) out of the picture to keep more of the profits by ordering their own chemo. Chemo was regarded as the most profitable item in the system. Now with this move, pfizer and the others are cutting out the middlemen of the doctors and pocketing that 30% cut.
big pharma wants to turn our immune systems into a subscription service
(well, those of us they don't kill)