Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) TD Cowen 9th Annual FutureHealth Conference summary

Business overview and strategy

• Launched clinical trial business in June 2022, leveraging a national pharmacy footprint for patient recruitment, trial conduct, and real-world evidence services.

• Focused on improving patient access and representation in drug development, serving over 25 manufacturers across 35 trials.

• Business model centers on three service lines: insights-driven patient recruitment, trial conduct, and real-world evidence informatics.

• Patient recruitment uses access to 100 million lives, enabling precise outreach by demographics and social determinants.

• Trial conduct offers flexible options: in-store, hybrid, and at-home services, increasing accessibility and convenience.

Differentiation and partnerships

• Only retail pharmacy with a mature, profitable clinical trial service, leveraging trust and community presence.

• Strategic partnerships with organizations like BARDA and Boehringer Ingelheim focus on decentralized trials and diverse patient recruitment.

• BARDA partnership includes up to $100 million investment to build infrastructure for decentralized trials.

• Collaborations with CROs and pharma sponsors to support patient recruitment and diversity commitments.

• Flexible engagement model allows integration with existing physician sites and academic centers.

Impact on diversity and access

• Direct access to underserved and diverse communities enables higher representation in trials.

• Recent vaccination study doubled industry averages for Black and Hispanic enrollment, reaching 15–18%.

• Alzheimer's trial with Prothena achieved 21% Hispanic and Latina participation.

• Demand from pharma driven by regulatory requirements for diversity action plans.

• Patient recruitment is the primary entry point for new pharma partners, expanding to broader services over time.