Rising healthcare costs are forcing employers to rethink how they support workers’ medical needs, especially as demand for GLP-1 weight-loss drugs continues to soar. Yet nearly two-thirds of U.S. employers still don’t cover these medications, leaving a significant gap in care that Las Vegas-based startup Andel aims to close.
Founded in 2025 by serial entrepreneur Jay Bregman and pharmacist Ritu Malhotra, Andel has raised $4.5 million in seed funding from Lightbank, Seedcamp, Bertelsmann Investments, Houghton Street Ventures, and Springboard. The company’s mission is to help employers provide affordable access to GLP-1 medications while reducing the financial strain that traditional pharmacy benefit models create.
Bregman, best known for leading ventures like Hailo and Thimble, brings startup expertise and operational insight, while Malhotra contributes more than 20 years of experience in pharmacy benefits, including leadership roles at CVS Health. Together, they designed Andel’s model to simplify how companies deliver high-value healthcare to their teams.
At the heart of Andel’s approach is a cooperative purchasing platform that pools demand across multiple employers. This allows Andel to negotiate directly with drug manufacturers and secure below-market prices for GLP-1 medications. Employers can then decide how much of the cost to subsidize, enabling employees to receive brand-name prescriptions at a fraction of the typical cost—without navigating insurer red tape or waiting for prior authorizations.
Everything from prescription verification to delivery and ongoing management is handled through Andel’s intuitive digital platform, removing the need for traditional pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) such as Express Scripts, OptumRx, or CVS Caremark. This direct-to-employer model offers transparency and predictability—two things often missing in legacy healthcare systems.
Andel’s vision extends well beyond GLP-1 drugs. The startup plans to expand its cooperative pricing model to other high-cost specialty medications, tackling one of the most persistent pain points for employers: escalating prescription expenses. The company is also in active discussions with major benefits consultants and plans to announce new strategic partnerships in early 2026 to scale its solution nationwide.
By combining smart negotiation with a user-friendly digital experience, Andel wants to redefine how employer-sponsored pharmacy benefits work—making access to breakthrough medications not a privilege, but a standard.
