Waltz Health Partnered With Fresenius Kabi

The collaboration expands direct-to-employer access to three biosimilar medications.

Updated on Sept. 29, 2026 in Healthcare

Isometric editorial illustration of a glass medical vial and a laboratory pipette, representing a streamlined pharmaceutical access model.
Waltz Health partnered with Fresenius Kabi on Tuesday to offer employers direct access to biosimilar medications, bypassing traditional pharmacy benefit management systems. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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Waltz Health has partnered with Fresenius Kabi to offer employers direct access to biosimilar medications, bypassing traditional pharmacy benefit management contracts. The agreement covers treatments in rheumatology, dermatology, and gastroenterology.

Why it matters

This partnership seeks to improve medication affordability and access by removing the complexities of wholesaler and rebate-based pharmacy benefit management systems. It builds on previous efforts to streamline prescription delivery for employers and patients.

The partnership includes three biosimilar medications that are interchangeable with Humira, Stelara, and Actemra. These drugs span three distinct therapeutic categories within the rheumatology, dermatology, and gastroenterology fields.

The players

Waltz Health

Waltz Health is a company that develops pharmacy benefit platforms designed to increase price transparency and reduce medication costs.

Fresenius Kabi

Fresenius Kabi is a global healthcare company that focuses on life-saving medicines and technologies for infusion, transfusion, and clinical nutrition.

The details

The Waltz Connect platform facilitates this model by charging a flat fee for medications while calculating costs in the background to simplify the process. By avoiding standard rebate-driven pharmacy benefit managers, the system aims to create a more transparent path for patients to receive necessary care.

Timeline

  1. Waltz Health launched its initial direct-to-employer offering for GLP-1 medications at the beginning of 2026.

Market Landscape

This move represents a strategic pivot toward bypassing legacy pharmacy benefit management structures that have long dominated U.S. drug pricing. The initiative positions the companies to challenge incumbents by offering a simplified, transparent procurement model for large-scale employers.

Employees covered by participating employer plans may gain easier access to high-cost biosimilar treatments without the administrative hurdles of traditional systems. This shift could lead to more predictable medication costs for patients and their employers.

The takeaway

By moving away from traditional rebate-based models, companies are attempting to lower the barrier for patients to access complex specialty drugs. Employers should monitor these programs as they expand into oncology and cardiometabolic care to potentially optimize their benefit spending.

Further reading

For additional context on changes to pharmacy benefits, explore the Healthcare section.

Source note: This article includes information reported by FierceHealth.

Live Poll

Do you trust that direct-to-employer medication programs effectively lower your pharmacy costs?