Getty
Ride share giant Uber said it jumped into the drug delivery business with launching on-demand prescription platform NimbleRx.
The partnership has begun in the Seattle and Dallas markets with plans to expand elsewhere in the U.S. in the coming months, ‘Uber and Nimble Rx said Thursday. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
NimbleRx, which has about $ 500 million in annual revenue, said the partnership has the potential to grow as the startup works with more than 700 pharmacies in 34 states. The NimbleRx network tends to be pharmacy chains with 10 to 20 stores, but the relationship with Uber could be a sign of larger chains and related expansion of pharmacy networks.
Uber and its ride share rivals, including Lyft, continue to develop ways to tap into the fastest-growing healthcare industry, partnering with hospitals and healthcare systems to ensure patients come to their appointments by signing contracts with health insurance companies, Medicare Advantage- plans and state Medicaid programs to cover medical transportation non-emergency.
“We are not just moving people,” Dan Trigub, head of Uber Health, said in an interview. “We can get presents in her house. We integrate with a best-in-class pharmacy solution that pharmacies have access to and give them the opportunity to deliver for their prescriptions. “
The partnership Uber-NimbleRx comes as major drugstore chains CVS Health and Walgreens Boots Alliance invest more in their prescription options for home delivery and related technology following Amazon’s two years ago purchase of the online pharmacy PillPack. By developing new ways of delivering prescriptions, those involved see a way to improve the attachment of medicines, some studies have shown that one in four prescriptions is not regularly picked up at the pharmacy and an even larger percentage take them drugs not as prescribed.
In the Uber Health-NimbleRx partnership, the ride-sharing company sees a rapidly growing market of baby boomers assembling prescribed needs and Americans during a pandemic in search of delivering presents on request for personal visits to pharmacies, drugstores and doctors prevent offices amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Trigub said the NimbleRx relationship uses the Uber Direct delivery platform launched earlier this year.
“Now more than ever it is critical that people get their medicines safely and efficiently, and in recent months we have seen a significant increase in the demand for present delivery from both consumers and pharmacies in retail,” said NimbleRx founder and CEO Talha Sattar, who says that the average waiting time for someone to receive a present will be less than 30 minutes. “It’s really and really on demand.”
.
