Demand for Lilly's diabetes drug Mounjaro, the sister of Zepbound, and similar medicines such as Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy — which all belong to a class known as GLP-1s — has soared over the past two years. U.S. prescriptions for Zepbound quickly rose to 22,335 in late December after it became available in pharmacies early in the month.

Telehealth providers specializing in obesity treatment are helping meet high demand by offering prescriptions for GLP-1 drugs without requiring people to visit a doctor's office in person. Instead, patients can have a video call with a doctor or other health professional on their phones or computers. For its new service for Zepbound, Lilly partnered with telehealth provider Form Health, which specializes in weight loss. Form Health also offers prescriptions for non-Lilly drugs such as Wegovy, and Form's prescribers won't be obligated to prescribe Zepbound.

LillyDirect also will provide patients with access to telehealth providers and allow for search tools to find health-care professionals near patients if in-person care is preferred.

"We know that people have come to depend on the efficiency and convenience of digital solutions to meet a variety of their everyday needs, health care being one of them," said Frank Cunningham, Lilly's group vice president of global value and access. "We launched LillyDirect with the hope that it will offer patients an innovative end-to-end experience to manage their health and access their medicines so they can get back to living their lives."

Patients will receive Eli Lilly's discounts for drugs if they qualify for the company's savings-card programs, the company said in a press release. Costs vary depending on insurance coverage, but Zepbound could be as little as $25 a month up to $550 for a one-month supply.

Related: FDA approves Eli Lilly's new weight loss drug Zepbound, cheaper than Wegovy

Lilly plans to update the site and include new products, partners and services in the future. The move by Lilly is "poised to upend the traditional go-to-market strategy within the drug area," Lee Brown, global sector lead for health care at the research firm Third Bridge, told Axios.