The Medical Letter

What The Medical Letter does

The Medical Letter, Inc. is a non-profit medical publishing organization founded in 1958 and headquartered in New Rochelle, New York, that delivers independent, peer-reviewed evaluations of prescription drugs, therapeutics, and treatment guidelines to healthcare professionals and institutions. Its core offering is a subscription-based medical newsletter that publishes bi-weekly issues analyzing FDA approvals, comparing drug classes, and providing clinical prescribing recommendations, supported by a Continuing Medical Education (CME) program with integrated self-paced exams, a Drugs of Choice Handbook, side-by-side comparison charts, a mobile application for iOS and Android, single-article purchases, and a French-language sister publication (La Lettre Médicale). The underlying technology stack is a conventional web-based content delivery platform accessed through a secure member portal at secure.medicalletter.org, with no disclosed APIs, SDKs, integrations, or machine-learning capabilities.

The business model is subscription-driven and diversified across four revenue streams: individual professional subscriptions, institutional site licenses for hospitals, libraries, healthcare systems, and academic medical centers (sold as multi-year contracts), accredited CME/CE program fees, and content licensing to third-party publishers and digital health platforms. Marketing and distribution are primarily digital, spanning the company website, email alerts, a WordPress blog, and a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Bluesky, with go-to-market executed through direct online subscription sales and quote-based institutional agreements. A defining structural feature — and the company's central editorial asset — is its explicit refusal of pharmaceutical industry funding, which underwrites its positioning as an unbiased, conflict-of-interest-free reference for clinical decision-making.

Name

The Medical Letter

Legal name

The Medical Letter, Inc.

Website

https://medicalletter.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1958

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Medical Letter, Inc. is a non-profit medical publisher founded in 1958 that delivers independent, peer-reviewed drug evaluations, comparative treatment guidelines, and accredited CME/CE content to physicians, pharmacists, hospitals, academic centers, and libraries through subscriptions and site licenses.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Medical Drug Information Publishing

NAICS

Periodical Publishers (513120)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDAGAGAA

Medical & Clinical Reference (Physicians, Nursing, Allied Health)

Education/Educational Publishing & Learning Content/Professional & Technical Reference Publishing

SECONDARYHLAGALAG

Medical Writing & Publications (Clinical/Safety/HEOR)

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Life Science Tools & Services (CRO/CDMO/Lab Services)/Pharmacovigilance & Medical Affairs Services

Keywords

• Drug information publishing
• Medical newsletter subscriptions
• Continuing medical education
• Clinical drug comparisons
• Pharmaceutical reference services

Headquarters

HQ city

Larchmont

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Subscriptions: Annual or multi-year subscriptions for healthcare professionals to access The Medical Letter publications and continuing education content
2. Institutional Subscriptions: Site licenses for hospitals, libraries, healthcare systems, and academic institutions providing broad access to staff and students
3. Continuing Education: CME/CE programs with exams generating professional development revenue from healthcare practitioners
4. Content Licensing: Licensing of medical letter content to third parties including publishers, healthcare organizations, and digital health platforms

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Medical Letter publishes independent, peer-reviewed, subscription-based newsletters that provide critical assessments, comparative reviews, and treatment recommendations on prescription drugs and therapeutics for healthcare professionals. Its core delivery is a recurring medical newsletter with supporting offerings including a continuing education program with integrated exams, a Drugs of Choice Handbook, comparison charts, institutional site licenses, and content licensing.

Product overview

The Medical Letter publishes a subscription-based medical newsletter covering drug information, treatment guidelines, and continuing medical education. The core product is The Medical Letter subscription, which provides peer-reviewed drug analyses and clinical recommendations. Supporting offerings include a CME Program with integrated Exams for continuing education credits, a Drugs of Choice Handbook as a reference guide, and Comparison Charts for at-a-glance drug comparisons. Institutional Subscriptions provide site-wide access for healthcare organizations, while Content Licensing enables third-party distribution. A Mobile App extends access to mobile devices. Single Article Purchases allow pay-per-article access for non-subscribers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• The Medical Letter (subscription newsletter) A subscription-based medical newsletter providing independent, peer-reviewed drug information, FDA approval updates, drug comparisons, and treatment recommendations for physicians, pharmacists, and other healthcare professionals.
• Continuing Medical Education (CME) Program An accredited continuing education program that delivers CME/CE credits to healthcare professionals, supported by self-paced exams and tracking of completion status.
• Drugs of Choice Handbook A reference handbook providing concise guidance on preferred drug selections across a range of clinical conditions.
• Institutional Subscriptions (Site License) Multi-user site licenses that grant hospitals, healthcare systems, academic medical centers, and libraries organization-wide access to The Medical Letter's content under multi-year contracts.
• Content Licensing Licensing arrangements that permit third parties, including publishers, healthcare organizations, and digital health platforms, to republish and redistribute The Medical Letter's clinical content.
• Mobile App Native iOS and Android mobile applications providing subscribers with on-the-go access to issues, articles, comparison charts, and CME/CE materials.
• Single Article Purchase Individual article purchases that allow non-subscribers to buy one-time access to specific articles on drug therapies and clinical topics.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• UpToDate: Wolters Kluwer's flagship evidence-based clinical decision support resource for physicians. Most direct competitor to The Medical Letter in evidence-based, subscription drug and treatment reference content for clinicians, with broader topic coverage.
• Lexicomp: Wolters Kluwer's drug information and clinical reference database used by pharmacists and clinicians. Closely comparable to The Medical Letter's drug comparison and clinical reference offerings, particularly for pharmacy and hospital settings.
• DynaMed: EBSCO's evidence-based clinical decision support tool providing point-of-care drug and disease reference. Direct competitor in subscription clinical reference content for healthcare professionals and institutions.
• Micromedex: IBM/Merck's evidence-based drug information and clinical reference suite used in hospitals and health systems. Comparable drug reference and clinical decision support product serving similar institutional buyer personas.
• Clinical Pharmacology (Elsevier): Elsevier's drug information reference used by pharmacists and clinicians. Comparable drug monographs, interaction, and clinical reference content with institutional site licensing similar to The Medical Letter's institutional subscriptions.
• NEJM Journal Watch: Massachusetts Medical Society's subscription summaries of clinically relevant research and drug developments. Closely comparable editorial model — physician-edited, subscription-based independent summaries for clinicians, including comparison content.

Emerging players

• Epocrates: Mobile-first drug reference and clinical decision tool widely used by physicians. Overlaps with The Medical Letter's drug comparison and reference content but delivered as a lightweight mobile utility rather than a long-form peer-reviewed publication.
• ASHP Drug Information: American Society of Health-System Pharmacists' drug reference resources. Comparable independent, professionally authored drug reference content targeted at pharmacists and health systems, partially overlapping with The Medical Letter's pharmacist audience.
• Drugs.com: Free consumer and professional drug information reference. Comparable drug monographs and comparison content for clinicians and patients, competing primarily on access model (free + ad-supported).

Broad incumbents

• Medscape (WebMD): WebMD-owned free clinician reference and CME platform. Comparable target audience and drug reference content for physicians, with much broader scope and ad-supported free access competing for clinician attention.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/MedicalLetter
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/medicalletter
• Facebookfacebook.com/TheMedLetter
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-medical-letter-inc-
• Instagraminstagram.com/medicalletter

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Medical Letter