April 24, 2026, 4:17 pm | Read time: 2 minutes
Amazon is expanding its health business in the U.S. and now offers a program for weight-loss medications. This allows so-called slimming medications to be ordered directly through the online retailer. The focus is on GLP-1 medications, which are currently in high demand and aim to simplify access.
The entire process is organized through a central platform. This includes doctor visits, prescription issuance, and subsequent delivery. The goal of the program is to make access to the medications as easy as possible by consolidating multiple steps into a digital process. The transaction is handled entirely through Amazon’s system.
Prices and Available Medications
The offerings include products from manufacturers Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. These are available both as injections and in tablet form. Costs vary depending on insurance coverage. With insurance, prices start at around 25 U.S. dollars (approximately 21 euros) per month. Without insurance, significantly higher amounts are incurred. Tablets cost at least 149 U.S. dollars (approximately 126 euros), while injections start at 299 U.S. dollars (approximately 254 euros). The service is currently available exclusively in the U.S.
Amazon uses its existing logistics network for delivery. This ensures that even temperature-sensitive medications reach customers quickly. In many cases, delivery occurs on the same day. Orders and shipment tracking can be managed via the app. New users can also use the service and have medications delivered directly to their homes.
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No Offer for Germany
The service is currently available exclusively in the U.S. A comparable concept is unlikely to be feasible in Germany in the foreseeable future. This is mainly due to the significantly stricter regulatory framework in the healthcare sector: The prescription of medications, especially highly demanded GLP-1 products, is closely tied to personal medical examinations and clear indications here.
Moreover, purely digital “one-stop” platforms that combine doctor contact, prescription, and distribution in a commercial system face legal hurdles here, such as the ban on remote treatment, data protection, and the strict separation of prescription and distribution. Additionally, the solidarity-based health insurance system with fixed reimbursement rules hardly allows for pricing models like those in the U.S. Pharmacy law and competition rules also limit the direct integration of logistics giants like Amazon into drug supply—especially for prescription and temperature-sensitive medications.
Overall, such a model would therefore collide with several central principles of the German healthcare system.