Alula Creates DTC Marketplace for Cancer Patients

Alula, McKesson’s first digital cancer treatment marketplace partner, opened up its DTC marketplace in April. The purpose? Make it easier for cancer patients to find and purchase the products they need at any given stage of their treatment.

Liya Shuster-Bier was a caregiver when her mother battled breast cancer, and later she was a cancer patient herself. She founded Alula in 2018 to help cancer patients navigate treatment and remission.

“My mom kept looking at me while we were scrolling through our laptops and said, ‘Liya, why isn’t this all organized in a singular store? I’m not the first person in America to have breast cancer,’” Shuster-Bier said. Now, through Alula, she has created one.

Alula’s DTC marketplace divides products into five major categories, depending on the stage of treatment the patient is in:

  • Essentials – day-to-day and potential emergency needs
  • Chemotherapy – products to help with the side-effects of chemotherapy
  • Surgery – items to keep on hand before and after surgeries
  • Radiation – products to help with radiation side effects
  • Transplant – staples to support healing, recovery, and quarantine after a transplant

Alula’s DTC marketplace has been made possible through e-commerce tools (like Shopify), as well as through invaluable partnerships with organizations that supply the products themselves, including McKesson Corporation, AnaOno, and Patch10.

Read more about Alula’s new DTC marketplace here.