Dive Brief:
- Uber Health is partnering with e-prescription startup ScriptDrop in a deal expanding the ride-hailing giant's prescription delivery footprint from a few cities to dozens of U.S. states.
- Uber first forayed into medication delivery in several metro areas in August through a deal with digital delivery marketplace NimbleRx, as the pandemic caused a surge in patient demand for the service.
- With this latest deal, Uber's hundreds of thousands of drivers will be accessible to pharmacies using ScriptDrop in 37 states across the U.S. ScriptDrop, a third-party tech platform connecting patients and pharmacies with couriers nationwide, will pay Uber for the cost of each delivery.
Dive Insight:
Uber's main thrust in the healthcare sector is non-emergency medical transportation, and it has netted some 1,500 partners, including major health systems and payers, since launching in the space three years ago.
But the San Francisco-based company is also hoping the crowded but lucrative at-home prescription drug delivery market will be profitable, following mounting losses last year as the coronavirus pandemic pummeled ride-hailing companies.
Growth in Uber's delivery business has outpaced plummeting ridesharing revenue during COVID-19. In fourth quarter earnings released February, Uber's gross bookings in its mobility business were down 50% year over year, while gross bookings in its delivery segment were up 130%.
This latest deal suggests Uber is doubling down on delivery, banking that demand for at-home drug delivery remains high beyond COVID-19.
ScriptDrop integrates with a pharmacy's software system to provide same-day shipping medication delivery options, and also has a consumer-facing portal for drop-offs. As of today, Uber is integrated with ScriptDrop via an application programming interface, and will become the default option for select pharmacies depending on location and driver availability, the companies said.
ScriptDrop doesn't share the exact number of U.S. pharmacies working with its platform, but a spokesperson told Healthcare Dive they partner with thousands. ScriptDrop clients include prominent pharmacies like Albertsons, Kmart and Safeway; pharmacy systems such as PDX and a number of courier companies, health systems and insurers.
The partnership is operational in 37 states as of today, including California, Florida, New York and Texas. Uber and ScriptDrop have additional plans for near-term expansion, in some cases in new states in the next couple of weeks, the spokesperson said.
Uber first launched consumer-facing prescription delivery in several U.S. cities through the Uber Eats app, in the partnership with NimbleRx. That's grown from a pilot in Seattle and Dallas to cities including New York, Miami, Austin and Houston, with more metro areas to come, according to Uber.
Prescription drug delivery companies have reported skyrocketing utilization during COVID-19. Columbus, Ohio-based ScriptDrop has said delivery volume jumped 363% from February to April last year, while revenue tripled between October 2019 and October 2020. The startup announced a $15 million funding round in October to drive growth, bringing its total funding to $27 million since launching in 2017.
Partially as a result of COVID-19 tailwinds, the prescription tech sector, which includes e-prescription vendors like NimbleRx and ScriptDrop, is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 16%, the quickest of the enterprise health and wellness segments, according to a February report from Pitchbook.
Despite consumer demand for at-home prescription delivery, it's a crowded market. Most major pharmacies, including CVS Health and Walgreens, have hustled to build out their delivery networks in the past few years, facing potential disruption from outside entrants, notably Amazon.
But there's ample room for competition: The U.S. prescription drug market accounted for $335 billion in health spending in 2018 and sees some 3.8 billion prescriptions filled each year.