Ro's and Amgen's research will focus on barriers to care and improving access to treatment
NEW YORK, Jan. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Ro, the leading direct-to-patient healthcare company, today announced a research collaboration with Amgen to study barriers to care and patients' treatment experience. Powered by data from Ro's nationwide platform, the research will evaluate the real-world challenges that patients and providers must navigate in order to access and deliver evidence-based obesity care.
"GLP-1s can be life-changing for those who can get treatment, but real impact requires scale – which means dramatically improving access for the millions of Americans who could benefit from care," said Zach Reitano, CEO and Co-founder of Ro. "By studying Ro's real-world, de-identified data we can generate insights that help us build tools that empower patients to overcome barriers to care and get more personalized support, laying the groundwork for broader access as innovators like Amgen bring the next generation of medicines to people living with obesity and related conditions."
As GLP-1s help to transform the obesity treatment landscape, insurance coverage for the medications has remained a key hurdle for patients and providers. While prior research has focused on policy-level data, Ro's and Amgen's will importantly evaluate real-world GLP-1 coverage among a treatment-seeking population. The research will also go a step further to study trends in prior authorizations (i.e., a provider's request for coverage of a patient's specific treatment). These insights will help more clinically eligible patients and their providers understand insurance coverage criteria, including where gaps in coverage exist, and how best to ensure that patients have access to the therapies they need.
"At Amgen, we believe that deep insights from observational research are critical to advancing patient care. Through this collaboration, we aim to leverage Ro's robust real-world data across the care ecosystem to better understand the patient experience and identify where limitations and unmet needs persist. Together, we can translate those insights into future therapy development, innovations in care delivery, and greater patient outcomes," said Brian Bradbury, vice president of Observational Research at Amgen.
This research collaboration originated through Ro and Amgen's shared commitment to harnessing real-world evidence to support patient care.
About Ro
Ro is a direct-to-patient healthcare company with a mission of helping patients achieve their health goals by delivering the easiest, most effective care possible. Ro is the only company to offer nationwide telehealth, labs, and pharmacy services. This is enabled by Ro's vertically integrated platform that helps patients achieve their goals through a convenient, end-to-end healthcare experience spanning from diagnosis, to delivery of medication, to ongoing care. Since 2017, Ro has helped millions of patients in nearly every single county in the United States, including 99% of primary care deserts. Visit Ro.co for more information.
Contact: press@ro.co
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