AstraZeneca to enter direct-to-consumer discount prescription market
Digital prescription medication customers have a new option for low-cost medications that cuts out the middleman.
Global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca will launch AstraZeneca Direct, an online direct-to-consumer platform designed to create a way for eligible patients to gain access to their prescribed medications at a transparent cash price with home delivery, on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025.
AstraZeneca Direct is intended to support people living with chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes, heart failure and chronic kidney disease, as well as people seeking flu protection. The platform will enable eligible patients with prescriptions for Airsupra (albuterol/budesonide) or Farxiga (dapaglifozin) to able to use AstraZeneca Direct to purchase these medicines directly for a cash price up to 70% off list price.
Consumers will also be able to order the Flumist intranasal live influenza vaccine for home delivery via AstaZeneca Direct.
"We remain deeply committed to improving accessibility, affordability, and driving innovation in healthcare and we are excited to launch AstraZeneca Direct, which will give patients a transparent cash price with the convenience of home delivery,” said Joris Silon, U.S. country president, AstraZeneca. “The program complements our existing patient support services and is an important step forward in offering patients the medication they need, when and how they need it."
The company says that AstraZeneca Direct is an extension of its existing U.S. patient support offerings, which will continue unchanged for eligible patients. These programs help eligible patients obtain access their prescribed AstraZeneca medication at no or reduced cost.
Digital discount prescriptions are a growing market
AstraZeneca is tossing its prescription bottle cap into an increasingly crowded vertical of digital retailers and platforms offering consumers online access to low-cost prescription drugs, with the added feature of being a direct-to-consumer provider.
For example, online giant Amazon offers RxPass, a $5 monthly prescription service for U.S. Prime members from Amazon Pharmacy initially launched in 2023, in 48 U.S. states.
The benefit allows Prime members, including Medicare beneficiaries, access to more than 50 commonly prescribed medications that treat conditions like anxiety, diabetes, hypertension and heart disease for $5 per month, regardless of how many prescriptions they need, with free two-day delivery and same-day service in eligible locations.
[READ MORE: Amazon Prime prescription plan expands access to Medicare recipients]
And same-day pharmacy delivery from Walmart, which was initially launched to provide delivery of prescription medications in as little as 30 minutes in October 2024 and offered nationwide in January 2025, now includes refrigerated and reconstituted medications — such as insulin, GLP-1s and pediatric amoxicillin — and is available across the U.S.
Walmart also recently opened a 102,000-sq.-ft. facility in Frederick, Md. designed to fulfill up to 100,000 prescriptions a day, supporting more than 700 stores across 16 states and Washington, D.C.
Other low-cost competitors in the prescription drug marketplace include GoodRx, which began directly selling and fulfilling orders for eligible prescription and over-the-counter medications online in October 2024 and also partners with with drugstore retailers including Walgreens and the pharmacy operation of Hy-Vee.
In addition, billionaire entrepreneur and "Shark Tank" star Mark Cuban launched Cost Plus Drugs in 2022 as a registered pharmaceutical wholesaler, which allows it to bypass middlemen and their associated markups. Cost Plus Drugs partners with retailers including Ahold Delhaize USA.
