Amazon is expanding its same-day prescription delivery service to nearly 4,500 U.S. cities and towns by the end of 2026, adding about 2,000 new communities, including statewide coverage in Idaho and Massachusetts.

The move deepens Amazon’s push into the prescription drug market, which it entered in 2018 through its acquisition of PillPack. The company is positioning faster delivery and subscription pricing as competitive advantages against traditional pharmacy chains.

Amazon said the expansion comes as pharmacy closures, staffing shortages and transportation barriers make it harder for some patients – particularly in rural and remote areas – to access medications.

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“Patients shouldn’t have to choose between speed, cost, and convenience when it comes to their medication, regardless of where they live,” said John Love, vice president of Amazon Pharmacy. “By combining our pharmacy expertise with our logistics network, we’re removing critical barriers and helping patients start treatment faster—setting a new standard for accessible, digital-forward pharmacy care.”

Boxes lie on a conveyor belt during Cyber Monday at Amazon’s fulfillment center in Robbinsville, New Jersey, U.S., Dec. 2, 2024.  (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

The company said it improved delivery speeds across all 50 states and Washington, D.C., in 2025. Faster shipping is expanding into rural areas, including remote Alaska towns and parts of the Navajo Nation, where the nearest pharmacy can be nearly an hour away.

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Close-up of an Amazon Pharmacy shipping label on a cardboard box, Reliez Valley, California, Feb. 9, 2025. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

Amazon is also integrating pharmacy services with One Medical, the primary care provider it acquired in 2023. Some One Medical patients can pick up prescriptions at in-clinic kiosks, and the company began filling select prescriptions at those electronic kiosks in December. One Medical operates on a $199 annual membership model.

In October, Amazon partnered with WeightWatchers to supply medications, including injectable GLP-1 obesity treatments, to its members. Amazon Pharmacy also offers the oral GLP-1 Wegovy pill.

Amazon packages seen on a conveyor belt at a warehouse facility.  (Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The company continues to promote cost-saving programs, including Prime Rx discounts of up to 80% on generics and 40% on brand-name drugs for uninsured members, as well as RxPass, a $5-per-month subscription available in 48 states for more than 50 common medications.

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Amazon said its expanded same-day and next-day delivery network is aimed at patients managing both acute and chronic conditions.

Reuters contributed to this report. 

GLP-1 weight-loss drugs are now the focus of a heated legal battle, with a leading drugmaker warning that copycat versions pose a risk to patient safety.

“When you go and try to source raw materials from China or unknown sources, put it in an injection, and sell knockoff medication, there is something wrong with this,” Mike Doustdar, president and CEO of Novo Nordisk, told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo.

Novo, best known for its blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic and weight-loss treatment Wegovy, has filed a lawsuit against Hims & Hers Health, accusing the telehealth company of selling compounded, unapproved versions of its semaglutide-based medications, including a copycat version of its newly launched daily pill.

Doustdar said the introduction of the oral option broadens access for patients who are reluctant to use injections, but he sharply criticized what he described as widespread “mass compounding” of GLP-1 drugs by telehealth firms.

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A woman injects a GLP-1 injection into her stomach in this undated photo taken at an undisclosed location. (iStock / iStock)

“Compounding is supposed to be for a few individuals that have, let’s say, allergic reactions to the real medicine,” he said. “But this mass compounding — it’s quite unbelievable that it has gotten to this point.”

He added that Novo has filed multiple lawsuits against compounders, arguing that the launch of a compounded pill version crossed a line.

“I think the nail in the coffin, as they say, was when they completely made a new drug — the pill — a compounded version of it and basically tried to introduce that to the market,” he said. “That’s where we felt enough is enough.”

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A pharmacist displays a box of Wegovy pills at a pharmacy in Provo, Utah on Thursday, Jan. 15.  (George Frey/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Hims & Hers fired back against Novo Nordisk in a statement issued to multiple outlets this week, blasting the legal move as “a blatant attack by a Danish company on millions of Americans who rely on compounded medications for access to personalized care” and accusing “Big Pharma” of “weaponizing the U.S. judicial system to limit consumer choice.”

“This lawsuit attacks more than just one medication or company – it directly assaults a well-established, vital component of U.S. pharmacy practice that has improved patient care for everything from obesity to infertility to cancer,” a representative for the company said, per the New Jersey business publication NJBIZ.

The company also cited its history of providing “safe access to personalized healthcare to millions of Americans,” adding that it will “continue to fight to provide choice, affordability and access.”

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The New York Stock Exchange with a Hims & Hers Health, Inc. banner is pictured as a person runs past in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York on Jan. 21, 2021 (Reuters/Carlo Allegri / Reuters)

For some time, patients seeking GLP-1 therapy for conditions such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver disease and metabolic syndrome have sought compounded alternatives after facing insurance roadblocks that created cost challenges for brand-name medications.

Doustdar said Novo’s recent cost reductions have eliminated the need for copycat drugs due to what he described as pricing similarities between branded and compounded versions.

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However, when Hims & Hers briefly launched its compounded oral semaglutide, it was marketed at about $49 per month as an introductory price and around $99 per month thereafter, lower than Novo’s FDA-approved oral Wegovy, which launched at roughly $149 per month and can cost up to $299 at higher doses under self-pay pricing.

Hims & Hers later pulled the oral compounded medication from its platform following legal threats from Novo and scrutiny from federal regulators.