GoodRx CEO Wendy Barnes sees a “profound transformation” happening in prescription drug pricing.
The catalyst, Barnes said during an earnings call Wednesday (Nov. 3), is the pending launch of TrumpRx, the planned government-run prescription drug website.
“The market is shifting decisively toward greater transparency and direct to consumer access,” Barnes told analysts.
“We view this evolution as both an opportunity and a clear validation of our mission. We are actively engaged with the administration and HHS, helping to inform policy efforts that expand access and affordability for all Americans,” she added, in reference to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
She said GoodRx’s platform was “designed to deliver on many of the same goals driving these initiatives,” by providing “transparent consumer direct pricing for medications at scale.”
As PYMNTS wrote earlier this year, these efforts are happening at a time when consumers across age brackets are increasingly turning to digital resources for their healthcare needs.
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For example, research from the PYMNTS Intelligence/Lynx report, “The Digital Platform Promise: What Baby Boomers and Seniors Want From Digital Healthcare Platforms,” shows that more than 80% of consumers want to use digital platforms to access pharmacy benefits such as discount cards, and to compare information about benefits and insurance plans.
Also Wednesday, management touted GoodRx’s efforts on the retail front, where the company is integrating its affordability tools directly into the physical pharmacy experience to capture consumers at the counter.
This quarter saw the national rollout of Rx SmartSaver, a solution designed to bring savings directly to the pharmacy counter, debuting at Kroger pharmacies around the country.
GoodRx reported a slight uptick in revenue, from $195.3 million to $196 million. Weighing on the earnings was a 9% decrease in prescription transactions revenue, primarily caused by a downturn in the number of monthly active consumers.
That drop was in turn fueled by broader changes in the retail pharmacy landscape, such as store closures, and volume reduction in one of the company’s integrated savings programs.
Subscription revenue fell 3% to $20.7 million primarily driven by a drop in the number of the company’s subscription plans. Helping fuel revenue growth was the company’s pharma manufacturer solutions business, up 54% to $43.4 million compared to $28.1 million.
This was driven by organic growth “as we continued to expand our market penetration with pharma manufacturers and other customers, including ongoing growth in our consumer direct pricing,” Barnes said.