GoodRx

American healthcare company

GoodRx Holdings, Inc.

Company type| Public

Traded as

* Nasdaq: GDRX (Class A)

Founded| 2011; 14 years ago (2011)
Founders| Trevor Bezdek[1]
Doug Hirsch[1]
Scott Marlette[1]
Headquarters|

Santa Monica, California

United States

Number of locations

| 2 (2019)

Area served

| United States

Key people

* Trevor Bezdek (co-CEO)[1]
* Doug Hirsch (co-CEO)[1]

Services|

* Prescription drug price comparison website
* Drug discount programs
* Telemedicine
* Telemedical service price comparison website

Revenue|  $745.4 million (2021)[2]

Number of employees

| 777[2] (2021)
Website| goodrx.com

GoodRx Holdings, Inc., is an American healthcare company that operates a telemedicine platform and free-to-use website and mobile app that track prescription drug prices in the United States and provide drug coupons for discounts on medications.[3] GoodRx checks drug prices at more than seventy-five thousand pharmacies in the United States.[4][5] The platform allows individuals to consult with a doctor online and obtain a prescription for certain types of medications at a cost of US$20, regardless of insurance status.[3] Medical testing services, which vary in price, are also offered through the platform.[3]

In 2017, the website received about fourteen million visitors a month.[6] As of February 25, 2020, "millions of people" had downloaded the GoodRx app.[7]

## History

[edit]

GoodRx was founded in Santa Monica, California, in 2011. In 2017, the company announced partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies to negotiate lower prescription drug costs.[6][8] In September 2019, GoodRx acquired the telemedicine company HeyDoctor and rebranded the telemedicine platform as GoodRx Care.[3] In 2021, GoodRx acquired the health video company HealthiNation.[9]

In October 2022, GoodRx launched Provider Mode which allows healthcare providers to use the app to compare costs of drugs for patients based on different payment methods and drug alternatives.[10]

GoodRx began its partnership with CVS Caremark in July 2023 to automatically apply coupons to insured CVS customers purchasing generic prescriptions at certain locations.[11]

In April 2024, GoodRx added Publix into their network, allowing GoodRx Gold members to use their cards at Publix Pharmacies. [12]

## Key people

[edit]

The Santa Monica-based startup was founded in September 2011 by Trevor Bezdek and former Facebook executives Doug Hirsch and Scott Marlette.[4][13][14][15] Marlette was one of the first 20 employees at Facebook and built Facebook's photo application.[13] In 2005, Hirsch was the Vice President of Product at Facebook, working closely with Mark Zuckerberg.[14]

## Controversy

[edit]

On February 25, 2020, Consumer Reports published an article stating that GoodRx shared user data—specifically, pseudonymized advertising ID numbers that companies use to track the behavior of web users across websites, the names of the drugs that users browsed, and the pharmacies where user sought to fill prescriptions—with Google, Facebook, and around twenty other internet-based companies.[7] A few days later, GoodRx released a statement claiming it had made changes to prevent user search data on medical conditions and pharmaceuticals from being shared with Facebook.[16][17] In March 2020, GoodRx stopped sending data about user prescriptions to Facebook.[18]

On February 1, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission fined GoodRx US$1.5 million for violations of the Breach Notification Rule and the Federal Trade Commission Act for allegedly failing to obtain specific,  informed, and unambiguous consent from users before disclosing health-related information[19] to Facebook and Google.[20][21]

## See also

[edit]

* Health care finance in the United States

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e CNBC.com Staff (May 15, 2019). "CNBC 2019 Disruptor 50". CNBC. Retrieved May 15, 2019.
2. ^ a b "GoodRx 2021 10-K". sec.gov. Retrieved May 3, 2022.
3. ^ a b c d Heather Landi (September 27, 2019). "Tech GoodRx acquires telemedicine company HeyDoctor to add virtual healthcare services". FierceHealthcare. Retrieved December 25, 2019.
4. ^ a b Mcusic, Teresa. "Where to turn online to save money on prescription drugs". Star Telegram. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
5. ^ "Money, drugs, and the medical practice: Can physicians benefit from helping patients reduce prescription costs? – Continuum". Carecloud. March 2018. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
6. ^ a b Thomas, Katie (February 9, 2016). "New Online Tools Offer Path to Lower Drug Prices". New York Times. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
7. ^ a b Thomas Germain (March 6, 2020). "GoodRx Saves Money on Meds — It Also Shares Data With Google, Facebook, and Others". Consumer Reports. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
8. ^ Morgan, David (May 8, 2017). "Inside Rx aims to lower high prescription drug costs". CBS News. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
9. ^ "GoodRx to acquire health video company HealthiNation forever and $75M in cash". April 20, 2021.
10. ^ "GoodRx adds patient insurance information to drug cost platform for providers". Healthcare Dive. Retrieved April 12, 2024.
11. ^ "GoodRx adds patient insurance information to drug cost platform for providers". Healthcare Dive. Retrieved April 15, 2024.
12. ^ Cohen, Howard (April 8, 2024). "Publix just rolled out a new way to cut prescription costs. It involves a new card". Miami Herald. Retrieved April 9, 2024.
13. ^ a b Dickinson, Boonsri. "These Ex-Facebook Guys Want To Help You Find Cheaper Drugs". Business Insider. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
14. ^ a b Empson, Rip (February 19, 2012). "GoodRx Grabs $1M+ From SV Angel, Founders Fund & More To Help You Find Cheap Prescription Drugs". TechCrunch. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
15. ^ Lazarus, David (February 24, 2012). "Making it easy to comparison shop for prescription drugs". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 18, 2017.
16. ^ "GoodRx and Data Privacy". GoodRx. February 28, 2020. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
17. ^ "Mobi Doctor". Retrieved September 19, 2023.
18. ^ Germain, Thomas (March 6, 2020). "GoodRx Stops Sending Prescription Data to Facebook". Consumer Reports. Retrieved September 17, 2022.
19. ^ Calascibetta, Thomas M. (March 21, 2023). "Examining the FTC's GoodRx Case and the Growing Risks of Improper Data Collection and Processing". The National Law Review. Chuhak & Tecson P.C. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
20. ^ Dudek, Mitch (February 1, 2023). "Discount prescription company GoodRx fined $1.5 million for sharing sensitive user info". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
21. ^ Weatherbed, Jess (February 2, 2023). "FTC fines GoodRx for sharing user health data with Google and Facebook". The Verge. Retrieved February 3, 2023.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website
* Business data for GoodRx Holdings, Inc.:

* Google
* Reuters
* SEC filings
* Yahoo!