杰弗里·柴肯和馬特·柴肯兄弟有一個雄心勃勃的計劃:降低處方藥的零售價。柴肯兄弟招募了亞馬遜(Amazon)和Airbnb的元老維納雅克·海德(Vinayak Hegde)來幫助他們實現(xiàn)這個使命。海德在業(yè)內(nèi)有很高的知名度,他了解消費者與技術(shù)之間的相互關(guān)系,現(xiàn)在在柴肯兄弟的公司Blink Health擔任首席運營官兼總裁。
雖然Blink在本月早些時候已經(jīng)公布了任命海德的消息,但這是杰弗里·柴肯和海德首次接受媒體采訪。
處方藥行業(yè)非常奇怪。供應(yīng)鏈各部分之間的關(guān)系錯綜復雜,而且通常非常隱蔽,消費者往往并不清楚他們要支付哪些成本。實際支出取決于消費者的保險以及有能力抬高價格的各種中間機構(gòu),如藥房福利管理者(PBM)、藥店、藥品經(jīng)銷商以及其他各類機構(gòu)等。極具諷刺意味的是,他們會相互指責對方是高藥價的罪魁禍首。
《財富》雜志之前曾經(jīng)報道過,Blink Health要做的是繞過提高藥價的中間機構(gòu)。但海德和柴肯告訴《財富》,過去幾年他們調(diào)整了策略,包括將開發(fā)有醫(yī)療保險的美國人這個龐大的市場。實質(zhì)上,他們要做的是努力擴大其商業(yè)模式(受眾相對有限)的規(guī)模,公司稱其商業(yè)模式能夠?qū)⑻幏剿幍某杀窘档透哌_80%。
海德說:“我想我能在醫(yī)療保健的普及方面發(fā)揮作用。而且公司所創(chuàng)立的這個平臺,可以擴大規(guī)模,比如幫助有保險和沒有保險的患者,這將給他們帶來顯著的影響?!?/p>
眾所周知,美國處方藥價格全球最高。從現(xiàn)任總統(tǒng)唐納德·特朗普到前民主黨提名候選人希拉里·克林頓,再到本屆民主黨提名候選人喬·拜登,許多政治人物都承諾要采取措施,降低美國人購買處方藥的實付成本。有些提案非常激進,比如特朗普和拜登提出的允許聯(lián)邦醫(yī)療保險直接參與藥價談判的提議。但這些提案都沒有得到落實。
海德職業(yè)生涯的經(jīng)歷非常有趣。他曾在亞馬遜任職12年,屬于技術(shù)專業(yè)出身,但最終卻進入了市場營銷領(lǐng)域。他是Groupon營銷團隊的負責人之一。他在Airbnb擔任全球民宿業(yè)務(wù)的首席營銷官,并擔任副總裁,負責全公司的業(yè)務(wù)增長。
盡管有這些經(jīng)歷,但對于制藥行業(yè)的供需關(guān)系,以及某些地區(qū)的特殊需求和對Blink最為重要的擴大規(guī)模的能力,海德才初窺門徑。這在處方藥領(lǐng)域是一項關(guān)鍵技能。
海德說:“加入亞馬遜六天后,我聽雷曼兄弟(Lehman Brothers)的一位分析師說,亞馬遜會資金枯竭最終破產(chǎn)。因此,在亞馬遜期間,我用一年半的時間執(zhí)行了一系列任務(wù),包括在英國和德國啟動第三方業(yè)務(wù),發(fā)布支付系統(tǒng),允許人們使用銀行賬戶等?!敝笏掷^續(xù)制定了亞馬遜的發(fā)展策略,從商品目錄提供商轉(zhuǎn)變成鏈接到這些商品的綜合性網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)提供商。
這種系統(tǒng)在當今的電子商務(wù)領(lǐng)域似乎已經(jīng)司空見慣,但它們卻是數(shù)字醫(yī)療公司的基礎(chǔ)。一直以來,處方藥行業(yè)都是一種面對面服務(wù)系統(tǒng),即消費者要在本地藥店內(nèi)買藥。要把這樣一個行業(yè)轉(zhuǎn)變成便利的規(guī)模化行業(yè),需要具備技術(shù)、物流和市場營銷等領(lǐng)域的知識。
柴肯說:“面對一個如此龐大的市場,你會有一個明顯的疑問,那就是為什么這個市場沒有被打開?根本原因是,這個市場存在一個亟待解決的極其復雜的問題。這個問題就是讓患者以最低價格買到處方藥,使他們掌握自己處方的控制權(quán)和代理權(quán),從而掌控在何處建立處方?!?/p>
Blink最開始服務(wù)的對象是沒有保險或者不想使用保險買藥的消費者,但公司的新計劃是開發(fā)有保險的患者這個市場,這也是公司聘請海德執(zhí)行的主要任務(wù)。歸根結(jié)底,只要能破譯這個行業(yè)的密碼,將通用藥物和品牌藥物的電子商務(wù)與直接配送相結(jié)合,就能大幅降低美國患者的成本。(財富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:Biz
杰弗里·柴肯和馬特·柴肯兄弟有一個雄心勃勃的計劃:降低處方藥的零售價。柴肯兄弟招募了亞馬遜(Amazon)和Airbnb的元老維納雅克·海德(Vinayak Hegde)來幫助他們實現(xiàn)這個使命。海德在業(yè)內(nèi)有很高的知名度,他了解消費者與技術(shù)之間的相互關(guān)系,現(xiàn)在在柴肯兄弟的公司Blink Health擔任首席運營官兼總裁。
雖然Blink在本月早些時候已經(jīng)公布了任命海德的消息,但這是杰弗里·柴肯和海德首次接受媒體采訪。
處方藥行業(yè)非常奇怪。供應(yīng)鏈各部分之間的關(guān)系錯綜復雜,而且通常非常隱蔽,消費者往往并不清楚他們要支付哪些成本。實際支出取決于消費者的保險以及有能力抬高價格的各種中間機構(gòu),如藥房福利管理者(PBM)、藥店、藥品經(jīng)銷商以及其他各類機構(gòu)等。極具諷刺意味的是,他們會相互指責對方是高藥價的罪魁禍首。
《財富》雜志之前曾經(jīng)報道過,Blink Health要做的是繞過提高藥價的中間機構(gòu)。但海德和柴肯告訴《財富》,過去幾年他們調(diào)整了策略,包括將開發(fā)有醫(yī)療保險的美國人這個龐大的市場。實質(zhì)上,他們要做的是努力擴大其商業(yè)模式(受眾相對有限)的規(guī)模,公司稱其商業(yè)模式能夠?qū)⑻幏剿幍某杀窘档透哌_80%。
海德說:“我想我能在醫(yī)療保健的普及方面發(fā)揮作用。而且公司所創(chuàng)立的這個平臺,可以擴大規(guī)模,比如幫助有保險和沒有保險的患者,這將給他們帶來顯著的影響?!?/p>
眾所周知,美國處方藥價格全球最高。從現(xiàn)任總統(tǒng)唐納德·特朗普到前民主黨提名候選人希拉里·克林頓,再到本屆民主黨提名候選人喬·拜登,許多政治人物都承諾要采取措施,降低美國人購買處方藥的實付成本。有些提案非常激進,比如特朗普和拜登提出的允許聯(lián)邦醫(yī)療保險直接參與藥價談判的提議。但這些提案都沒有得到落實。
海德職業(yè)生涯的經(jīng)歷非常有趣。他曾在亞馬遜任職12年,屬于技術(shù)專業(yè)出身,但最終卻進入了市場營銷領(lǐng)域。他是Groupon營銷團隊的負責人之一。他在Airbnb擔任全球民宿業(yè)務(wù)的首席營銷官,并擔任副總裁,負責全公司的業(yè)務(wù)增長。
盡管有這些經(jīng)歷,但對于制藥行業(yè)的供需關(guān)系,以及某些地區(qū)的特殊需求和對Blink最為重要的擴大規(guī)模的能力,海德才初窺門徑。這在處方藥領(lǐng)域是一項關(guān)鍵技能。
海德說:“加入亞馬遜六天后,我聽雷曼兄弟(Lehman Brothers)的一位分析師說,亞馬遜會資金枯竭最終破產(chǎn)。因此,在亞馬遜期間,我用一年半的時間執(zhí)行了一系列任務(wù),包括在英國和德國啟動第三方業(yè)務(wù),發(fā)布支付系統(tǒng),允許人們使用銀行賬戶等。”之后他又繼續(xù)制定了亞馬遜的發(fā)展策略,從商品目錄提供商轉(zhuǎn)變成鏈接到這些商品的綜合性網(wǎng)絡(luò)服務(wù)提供商。
這種系統(tǒng)在當今的電子商務(wù)領(lǐng)域似乎已經(jīng)司空見慣,但它們卻是數(shù)字醫(yī)療公司的基礎(chǔ)。一直以來,處方藥行業(yè)都是一種面對面服務(wù)系統(tǒng),即消費者要在本地藥店內(nèi)買藥。要把這樣一個行業(yè)轉(zhuǎn)變成便利的規(guī)?;袠I(yè),需要具備技術(shù)、物流和市場營銷等領(lǐng)域的知識。
柴肯說:“面對一個如此龐大的市場,你會有一個明顯的疑問,那就是為什么這個市場沒有被打開?根本原因是,這個市場存在一個亟待解決的極其復雜的問題。這個問題就是讓患者以最低價格買到處方藥,使他們掌握自己處方的控制權(quán)和代理權(quán),從而掌控在何處建立處方?!?/p>
Blink最開始服務(wù)的對象是沒有保險或者不想使用保險買藥的消費者,但公司的新計劃是開發(fā)有保險的患者這個市場,這也是公司聘請海德執(zhí)行的主要任務(wù)。歸根結(jié)底,只要能破譯這個行業(yè)的密碼,將通用藥物和品牌藥物的電子商務(wù)與直接配送相結(jié)合,就能大幅降低美國患者的成本。(財富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:Biz
Geoffrey and Matt Chaiken have an ambitious plan to lower the price that consumers have to pay for their prescription drugs. And they've enlisted the help of a prominent player who's both an Amazon and Airbnb veteran to help achieve their mission through his knowledge of the interplay between consumers and technology: Vinayak Hegde is now the COO and president of the Chaiken brothers' company, Blink Health.
While Blink made their announcement about Hegde's appointment earlier this month, this is the first time that Geoffrey Chaiken, and Hegde himself, have spoken with a media organization.
The prescription drug business is pretty bizarre. It's a maze of supply chain components that are largely obscure, and the consumer doesn't really know what they'll have to pay. Out of pocket costs depend on your insurance, and on the various middlemen—including pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs), pharmacies themselves, drug distribution companies, and all sorts of other players—which have the ability to hike up prices. The grand irony being that they all blame each other for, well, who's to blame.
What Blink Health set out to do, as Fortune has previously reported, is bypass the middlemen who make drugs more expensive. But in the past few years, they've changed strategies, Hegde and Chaiken tell Fortune, including by leveraging the large market of Americans who have health insurance. In essence, what they're striving for is to scale a business model—with a relatively limited audience—that the company claims can cut prescription drug costs by as much as 80 percent.
"I think I can make a difference to expand health care to a massive amount of people," says Hegde. "And they are set up in a place where we can actually make that set scale in terms of like, you know, helping patients who have insurance and helping patients who don't have insurance dramatically make a difference to their outcome."
It's no secret that prescription drug costs in the U.S. are among the highest in the world. Politicians ranging from President Donald Trump to former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton to current Democratic nominee Joe Biden have all vowed to take action that will lower the out-of-pocket costs paid by Americans for their prescriptions. Some proposals, such as both Trump's and Biden's recommendations that programs like Medicare have the power to directly negotiate the price of drugs, have been more aggressive than others. But none have actually been enacted.
Hegde has had an interesting transformation over the course of his career. A 12-year veteran of Amazon, and a technology professional at heart, he eventually went into the marketing side of business. He was one of the head honchos for Groupon's marketing group. At Airbnb, he was the chief marketing officer for the global homes business and tasked as a VP of growth for the entire company.
What this adds up to is: Hegde is a pupil of the school of supply and demand, and the way in which certain regions have very specific needs—and, most significantly for Blink, the ability to scale. When it comes to prescription drugs, that's a critical skill.
"Six days after I joined Amazon, an analyst from Lehman Brothers said, like, Amazon will run out of money and die," says Hegde. "So I spent one and a half years at Amazon doing a bunch of things such as launching the third party business in the U.K. and Germany, launching payment systems, allowing people to use their bank accounts." He then continued to build out strategies for turning Amazon's original functions as a provider of a catalog of goods into a more comprehensive web services provider linked to those very goods.
Such systems may seem commonplace today within e-commerce, but they form the very backbone of digital health companies. Turning an industry like prescription health care, which has historically been an in-person service system at, say, your local pharmacy, into a scaleable but convenient business takes knowledge of technology, logistics, and marketing.
"When you have such a huge market, the obvious question is, you know, like why hasn't this been cracked?" says Chaiken. "And the basic reason for that is that it's an incredibly complicated problem to solve. And the problem I'm talking about solving is getting patients the lowest price on their prescriptions and giving them control and agency over their prescription so they can control where it's built."
While Blink began by catering to those who didn't have insurance, or didn't want to use insurance in order to purchase drugs, the new plan—and part of what Hegde was hired to propel—is expanding into a network of insured patients. It boils down to this: The nexus of e-commerce and direct delivery of both generic and branded medications could significantly cut costs for American patients—if they can crack the code.