Comment by nerdsniper

13 days ago

It probably is legal at the moment, but the rules may be changed to make it illegal. But also Uber and Lyft were super illegal when they were invested in. To some extent, YCombinator partners are on the record[0] supporting the idea of their startups doing illegal things.

Generally they'll frame this as challenging outdated regulations, but they acknowledge that the founders whose strategies they fully support sometimes come into office hours and discuss how they're worried that the strategy puts them at risk of going to jail.

There are different kinds of illegal, and Hims/Hers may end up getting blocked from their current business model, or they may end up entrenching new ways for consumers to get affordable care. The jury is very much still out.

0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm-ZIiwiN1o&t=8m46s

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nerdsniper

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overgard  13 days ago

Pretty sure it's illegal. You can get peptides (even GLP-1's) legally from various sources for "Research Purposes", but they're marked as "Not For Human Consumption" (even though, on the sly, I'm sure they're aware people are buying these for human consumption and they provide purity tests etc.) What makes it illegal though, is when you say it is for human consumption, or worse market it as a treatment for a disease. That's when you actually need FDA approval.

  • nerdsniper  13 days ago

    Compounding pharmacies generally operate outside of what we typically think of when we think of "FDA approval".

refulgentis  13 days ago

> Hims/Hers may end up getting blocked from their current business model, or they may end up entrenching new ways for consumers to get affordable care

Well, no: the thing that's a lot cheaper is a placebo at best, and they were just referred to the DOJ for prosecution.

The rest is more expensive

  • nerdsniper  13 days ago

    Hims offered semaglutide for $99/month. That’s a 90% discount on unsubsidized consumer prices for injectable semaglutide. I also don’t see any evidence that they sold a placebo, but I’m just catching up now, perhaps I missed where they’re selling something with a different active ingredient which does not work.