Doug Hirsch started GoodRx after a pharmacy quoted him an alarming price for a prescription, and he went shopping for a better one. He found no single place to compare. GoodRx became that place. Its free app showed the price of a drug at every nearby pharmacy, plus a coupon to pay less. Millions of Americans used it. GoodRx went public in September 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, and closed its first day up 53 percent.

A Shock at the Counter

Hirsch, a former Facebook executive, founded GoodRx in Santa Monica in 2011 with Trevor Bezdek and Scott Marlette. The bet was that drug prices were hidden from the people paying them, and that showing those prices would pull in millions of users. GoodRx made its money from fees paid by pharmacy benefit managers when people used its coupons. Unlike most startups of its size, it was profitable when it filed.

Amazon Enters the Aisle

GoodRx priced at $33 a share on September 22, 2020, above its first range of $24 to $28. It opened on Nasdaq at $46 and closed at $50.50. Two months later Amazon launched its own pharmacy, and GoodRx shares fell 23 percent that day. The company added telehealth and subscriptions, and later sold tools to drug makers. Its stock spent the following years far below the offer price. GoodRx still trades on Nasdaq under GDRX.

Cover: Abraham Francen, Apothecary, Rembrandt van Rijn. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for an apothecary (the pharmacy counter).