Uber, seeking to expand its prescription delivery business nationwide, has inked a deal with pharmacy home delivery start-up ScriptDrop that makes Uber the default delivery app for a network of grocery store and independent pharmacies that spans 37 states.

GoodRx Inc. has captured the attention of the pharmaceutical industry by putting pricing data on patients’ smartphones, often allowing them to choose between multiple prices for one drug at the pharmacy counter. While the startup — which went public last fall — unquestionably saves money for consumers, some experts say that it is a viable business only because of dysfunction in the broader drug channel.

In the 2020 Drug Trend Report recently released by Evernorth, the Cigna Corp. division added yet another chapter to the growing volume of data detailing the profound effects that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on health care.

In recent years, the pharmaceutical industry has not been popular with the public: Problems like the rising cost of prescription drugs and the opioid epidemic combined to make the industry the least popular nationwide in a 2019 Gallup poll. According to a recent poll, the public now thinks better of the industry due to the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines — but still wants drug prices to be reined in.