An online pharmacy called Ro is piloting a program to ship consumers generic drugs for $5 per prescription per month with no need for insurance, according to CNBC.
Ro is a startup company that began by shipping generic erectile dysfunction drugs, but it is now expanding to offer more than 500 generic drugs, a source familiar with the plans told CNBC.
The company said it will offer generics such as metformin for managing blood sugar or atorvastatin for high cholesterol for a flat rate of $5 per prescription per month. The $5 price tag also includes the cost of shipping.
Ro has $170 million in capital, according to CNBC, but it is unclear how it is able to offer the drugs for $5. Becker's Hospital Review has reached out to the pharmacy for further comment and will update this story accordingly.
"In order to make this a profitable pharmacy business, Ro will need to scale up to tens of millions of prescriptions to achieve scale-based efficiencies," Stephen Buck, co-founder of GoodRx, an online platform that provides users with coupons for significant price cuts on prescription drugs, told CNBC. "But if customers like the experience, they may be able to get there pretty fast."
Ro has three pharmacies right now, but plans to expand to more than 10 by the end of the year, CNBC reported.
Ro reportedly is testing the service with a small number of users and plans to launch the program to the general public in the "coming weeks."
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