New GoodRx CEO: Expanding Integrated Savings Program Key to Growth

Under the leadership of new CEO Wendy Barnes, GoodRx is preparing for growth in 2025, aiming to address the challenges of rising prescription costs and limited access to medications. By integrating eCommerce with digital prescriptions and expanding the company’s Integrated Savings Program (ISP), Barnes believes the company can expand its capabilities to better serve consumers and the healthcare system.

With its digital platform, GoodRx is focused on making healthcare more affordable and accessible for millions of Americans and through key partnerships and strategic initiatives.

“GoodRx makes it easy for people to save time and money when filling medication, complementing insurance by filling in the inevitable and growing coverage gaps,” Barnes said Thursday (Feb. 27) during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call.

Leveraging Relationships to Solve Pain Points

Barnes said she spent the past 30 years in the pharmacy and medical benefit industry.

“Leveraging my background and deep relationships with these leaders, my goal is to help GoodRx accelerate its ability to solve the very pain points that consumers currently face in getting medication,” she said. “For our consumers, we are making it easier to save, both within and outside the insurance benefit. And for our healthcare professionals, it is investing in tools to improve their workflows, reinforcing GoodRx as a seamless and essential part of the caregiving experience. That is why nearly 30 million consumers and over 1 million healthcare professionals used GoodRx in 2024.”

Confidence Amid Challenges and Market Pressures

Pharmacy store closures, ongoing prescription coverage challenges (especially for GLP-1 medications) and market saturation in the prescription discount segment could all impact transaction volume, Barnes noted. Additionally, macroeconomic pressures may reduce consumer spending on healthcare, while competitive pressures from alternative discount and insurance solutions could further affect the market landscape.

But Barnes is confident GoodRx, which recorded a 6% increase in full-year revenue, to $792.3 million, is up for the challenge.

“GoodRx is an indispensable complement to anyone’s insurance,” she said. “The system needs a better model, one that benefits consumers, healthcare professionals and the most challenged parts of the ecosystem. This is where GoodRx comes in. We reduce friction, improve access, and make saving on medication simple. In a world where potential regulatory changes center on transparency and lower prices, we believe we will be operating in a favorable environment to make it easier to benefit from and access more affordable options.”

Expansion of Integrated Savings Program

GoodRx’s eCommerce platform is key to its growth and the company is expanding its Integrated Savings Program (ISP) to bridge coverage gaps, providing savings on both generic and specialty drugs not typically covered by insurance.

“ISP primarily works on covered generics today, but we are working to expand that to non-covered brands through our ISP wrap program,” Barnes said. “Given 28% of new brand prescriptions are never filled, ISP wrap helps bridge coverage gaps creating a win-win for consumers, healthcare professionals, pharmacy benefit managers, and pharma manufacturers. They have a deep understanding of PBM economics and of the clients and consumers we mutually serve.”

Sophisticated clients, Barnes added, “are already demanding an integrated funded and cash benefit experience where consumers, pharmacists, and prescribers are no longer left to solve those gaps on their own. We believe integrating GoodRx is the answer and I am taking this message to the top of every payer, broker, and coalition with whom I already have a relationship.”

This approach aligns with consumer preferences. According to the PYMNTS Intelligence report, “The Digital Platform Promise: What Baby Boomers and Seniors Want From Digital Healthcare Platforms,” a collaboration with Lynx, more than 80% of consumers across all demographics prefer using digital platforms to access pharmacy benefits such as discount cards, and to compare information on health insurance plans and benefits.

Full-year prescription transactions revenue increased 5%, to $577.5 million, GoodRx reported, driven by an organic 7% increase in monthly active consumers. Full-year subscription revenue fell 8%, to $86.5 million, primarily driven by a decrease in the number of subscription plans due to the end of the company’s partnership subscription program, Kroger Savings Club. Kroger Savings Club contributed $9.0 million of subscription revenue in 2023 and $1.1 million in 2024.

Capitalizing on Digital Health Demand

Looking ahead, GoodRx is positioning itself to capitalize on the demand for digital health solutions and more affordable medication access.

“We are truly removing friction in the ecosystem and are a valuable partner to pharmacies, PBMs, health care professionals, and manufacturers,” Barnes said. “We’re a complement to insurance. We see ourselves as necessary and integral to the insurance that all of us use every day to fill in those gaps that insurance simply doesn’t cover.”