Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • November 2022
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

The Battle Among Channels for Marketing Pharmaceuticals: UpScript, Pharmacy Benefit Managers, and Direct-to-Consumer Sales

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Tiffany Farrell
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:31
ShareBar

Abstract

Can an online pharmacy both improve the quality and speed of care for patients who need branded drugs and stabilize profits for pharmaceutical manufacturers? UpScript, after years spent achieving legal and regulatory compliance and simultaneous technological innovation has developed a direct-to-consumer (DTC) channel that could upend the standard model of pharmaceutical insurance and pharmacy benefit manager channels that dominate the industry. But UpScript’s reliance on self-investment constrains it from access to the investment capital it now needs to grow and remain at the forefront of its ability to provide pharma with this sales channel. With whom should UpScript invest to maintain growth and market leadership? And as it grows, how will Upscript be challenged by the deeply entrenched pharmacy benefit managers that currently cover most American lives? And how does UpScript stay ahead of the other online pharmacies or telehealth businesses offering a DTC sales channel, mostly for lifestyle generic drugs?

Keywords

DTC; Internet and the Web; Marketing Channels; Customer Value and Value Chain; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Competitive Strategy; Service Delivery; Growth and Development Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; Health Industry; Retail Industry

Citation

Herzlinger, Regina E., and Tiffany Farrell. "The Battle Among Channels for Marketing Pharmaceuticals: UpScript, Pharmacy Benefit Managers, and Direct-to-Consumer Sales." Harvard Business School Case 323-031, November 2022.
  • Educators

About The Author

Regina E. Herzlinger

General Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • January 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Identify the Health Care Venture

    By: Regina E. Herzlinger and James Wallace
    • January 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Identify the Health Care Venture

    By: Regina E. Herzlinger and James Wallace
    • January 2023
    • Faculty Research

    Cleave Therapeutics: Taking a Risk on Oncology Drug Discovery

    By: Regina Herzlinger and Brian Walker
More from the Authors
  • Identify the Health Care Venture By: Regina E. Herzlinger and James Wallace
  • Identify the Health Care Venture By: Regina E. Herzlinger and James Wallace
  • Cleave Therapeutics: Taking a Risk on Oncology Drug Discovery By: Regina Herzlinger and Brian Walker
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College