Originally published by our sister publication Specialty Pharmacy Continuum
By Gina Shaw
The artificial intelligence–powered pharmacy navigation platform Scripta Insights has added an expert-driven GLP-1 Navigator education guide to its app, allowing members to understand their prescription choices as compounded options for the weight-loss medications dwindle.
Launched in 2019, Scripta is built on a proprietary system dubbed Scripta’s Med Mapper, which identifies therapeutic alternatives, optimal pharmacies and coupon sources. As of July 2025, Scripta serves approximately 1.5 million members from 80 clients, ranging from major Fortune 500 companies to small private employers, exclusively as a member benefit for self-funded health plans.
Ferrin Williams, PharmD, MBA, the firm’s chief pharmacy officer, compared Scripta to a Google Flights for prescriptions. “It shows you all the various ways I can get a ticket, and for the lowest cost ticket, you may have a 24-hour layover,” she said. “You may not always go with the lowest cost, but you probably want to see all your options for the flight you want to book, the prices and the other value-related options, like layovers and seat selection and which airport I can fly out of. Scripta is a similar comparison-shopping tool for prescription drugs, with all the different ways to buy a medication and how to save on them.”
Unlike Google Flights, however, Scripta’s Rx Navigator is custom-tailored to the individual user, with employees and enrolled dependents receiving personalized savings reports. “It knows your formulary, your plan design, your pre- and post-deductible costs, so it is very robust and accurate,” Ms. Williams said. “When a user logs into the platform, it shows all the medications they are taking, along with all available options for saving on those medications, whether that is a lower-cost pharmacy option or a lower-cost therapeutic alternative. We also have a search functionality within the app and portal so members can shop around for medications that they are not yet taking.”
Scripta’s Med Mapper, a proprietary clinical data set and rules engine, maps 17,000 medicines and medical devices to cost-efficient alternatives, considering clinical efficacy and focusing on health outcomes. It is paired with Scripta’s Savings Mapper, a proprietary recommendation engine that runs a payor’s benefit plan, pharmacy benefit manager formulary and Med Mapper against patient claims to identify savings opportunities and issue recommendations for plan sponsors.
Scripta’s Pharmacy & Therapeutics Committee, which comprises 26 actively practicing physicians and five pharmacists who are actively involved in patient care, reviews all the selections made by Med Mapper.
“We have mapped every drug on the market to every available alternative, and the P&T committee reviews each of those to ensure that this is something they would realistically switch a patient to,” Ms. Williams said. “AI is very beneficial, but if you don’t have the real-world experience to review those decisions, sometimes things can be missed.”
The new GLP-1 Navigator tool helps members understand their options and the trade-offs, regardless of whether their plan covers these drugs, including guidance around brand/formulation differences, delivery methods and side effects, cash pay versus insurance options, and how to compare vendors, suppliers and prices.
“GLP-1s [glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists] have the potential to be life-changing for millions of Americans—but the GLP-1 market is like the Wild West. Both doctors and patients struggle to understand the best option for getting these important treatments in an affordable and sustainable way,” said CEO Eric Levin. "If information is changing in as little as a day, how can we expect everyday Americans, doctors, or even HR and benefits leaders, to make sense of it all?” The Scripta AI platform “breaks down those barriers and helps plan members understand their options while reducing the confusion, stress and the guesswork that is standing in the way of better health.”
Dr. Williams underscored the platform’s ability to add some clarity to prescription drug pricing, which she noted “is one of the most opaque, inconsistent, difficult pricing models. Historically, that has made it very difficult to shop. But the availability of predictive algorithms, large language models and other AI software functionality allows us to provide much-needed transparency.”
The sources reported no relevant financial disclosures beyond their stated employment.
