An admittedly partial–but deeply troubling–case against America's most brazen medical grift, involving Chinese knockoffs, subscription traps, and prescription gas station sex pills.
Hopefully anyone seriously hurt by side effects of unregulated pharmaceuticals sold by Hims can get the help they need. At Better Help (TM) you can find a therapist you can trust when discussing the debilitating side effects you experienced from knock off viagra!
There’s something else in the marketing that has also irked me in some ways. Hopefully this comment doesn’t come across as demeaning or mean.
While the article definitely touches upon it, I want to capitalize on how much I’ve always detested the sleek marketing for these issues. It’s a step up from traditional drug marketing, where we see happy old people on TV where the ad ends with so many side effects you wonder if the cure if worse than the disease.
But Hims? It might as well be a cologne commercial. It makes it seem like these issues (while medically relevant) are so normal they’re almost cool. As a result, I think it downplays the real risk of these treatments.
Previous pharma marketing tried to hide the danger with 60 year olds doing yoga as an auctioneer reads about violent diarrhea and heart palpitations. Hims? Not a single mention of ANY dangers.
Weird to see someone shilling so hard for the pahramacy companies.
My favorite part is when you compare the prices of compounded semaglutide to prescription prices as a way of saying "look at how many corners they must be cutting to make the price come down so much" while ignoring that Novo Nordisk sells semaglutide in Europe for an average of $150/month.
Yep. I pay $199 a month for my GLP-1 from Hims. I’m satisfied with the results though I did manage to lose some weight even before starting on it; I figured I may as well get used to eating less anyway. I’ve lost close to 20% of my body weight so far, and am likely reach my target weight by the end of this year.
I know that some of this is muscle mass, which is why I’m going to be rolling over into adding weight training into the mix once I hit that target weight.
This was eye-opening. I didn't really understand how Hims worked until I read your story. It's distressing that our healthcare non system is failing people seeking treatment for these issues, creating opportunities like what you've described.
The rapid alternation between failures at a thundering Old Testament tone and at a darkly ironic one over a company that hasn’t actually harmed anybody you can name, except to the tune of a few hundred dollars, is quite mystifying in more ways than one. For many people, the alternative to compounded semaglutide is continued obesity, which is perhaps three orders of magnitude more dangerous. Hims doesn’t seem exactly saintly but this seems mostly more like the “evil” of Comcast than of the Gilded Age meatpackers, whereas Novo itself is plausibly doing vast harm by fighting so hard to maintain their truly eye-watering profit margins on a drug insurance largely won’t cover.
I think Hims and Hers are really selling convenience.
For the millions of people who don't have health insurance, or live in areas where doctors are sparse, it can be rather difficult to get an appointment to see a doctor to get regular ol' prescriptions for these drugs.
Hims and Hers essentially offer a convenient way to get those prescriptions without the hassle of actually seeing a doctor -- at a premium price, of course.
Good write up, I’ll probably write it in my own thing in which I defend the quackery in modern herbal/knock off drug companies.
You know the FDA is trying to prevent the exploitation of patents that keep prices high, while simultaneously not endorsing ridiculous drugs as legitimate. It’s hard to do, and the buyer still has to beware, or talk to their doctor.
I will not blame opportunists for human stupidity.
Alex! You point out the hypocrisy so well. The marketing and self-dealing of Hims is legendary. It is what we would expect from a non-physician seeking to become a healthcare disruptor.
Great article and just what I needed to hear. I paused my sub with them a while ago and mid article fully cancelled everything with them. Writing was on the wall, but you deciphered it very well. Nice work
Ngl I have a very, very passing interest in the field of pharmacology(mostly sparked by this blog) and a poor attention span when it comes to reading articles. As such it’s difficult to get through or even get started on some of your longer pieces.
But this piece was a great read, and I’d attribute that not just to the subject matter but to your excellent prose writing skills.
(Also, I love how you end your paragraphs. It should be studied.)
You sound like a big pharma shill…. The greatest claim against Hims/Hers seems to be that supplier quality is “dubious.” Sounds a lot like when the MSM uses “claimed without evidence” to discredit (because you can’t/don’t have to prove “lack of evidence”).
I don’t think the most accusatory language of other comments is merited. But, I do think your post while interesting is making claims that aren’t obviously impactful, but presenting them with damning prose.
What are the alternatives or counterfactuals? Would you propose that compounded semiglutides not be sold all together? Or some variation on this? Is your critique limited to the flavor of advertising?
These are questions I left your post wondering. Thanks, an overall good read.
Hopefully anyone seriously hurt by side effects of unregulated pharmaceuticals sold by Hims can get the help they need. At Better Help (TM) you can find a therapist you can trust when discussing the debilitating side effects you experienced from knock off viagra!
There’s something else in the marketing that has also irked me in some ways. Hopefully this comment doesn’t come across as demeaning or mean.
While the article definitely touches upon it, I want to capitalize on how much I’ve always detested the sleek marketing for these issues. It’s a step up from traditional drug marketing, where we see happy old people on TV where the ad ends with so many side effects you wonder if the cure if worse than the disease.
But Hims? It might as well be a cologne commercial. It makes it seem like these issues (while medically relevant) are so normal they’re almost cool. As a result, I think it downplays the real risk of these treatments.
Previous pharma marketing tried to hide the danger with 60 year olds doing yoga as an auctioneer reads about violent diarrhea and heart palpitations. Hims? Not a single mention of ANY dangers.
Yes!!! And where are the regulations on marketing????? Especially for pharmaceuticals? Nowhere to be found
Yeah I think the Super Bowl ad was a really egregious example of finding a loophole to avoid the ISI disclosures pharma companies are required to post
Weird to see someone shilling so hard for the pahramacy companies.
My favorite part is when you compare the prices of compounded semaglutide to prescription prices as a way of saying "look at how many corners they must be cutting to make the price come down so much" while ignoring that Novo Nordisk sells semaglutide in Europe for an average of $150/month.
Yep. I pay $199 a month for my GLP-1 from Hims. I’m satisfied with the results though I did manage to lose some weight even before starting on it; I figured I may as well get used to eating less anyway. I’ve lost close to 20% of my body weight so far, and am likely reach my target weight by the end of this year.
I know that some of this is muscle mass, which is why I’m going to be rolling over into adding weight training into the mix once I hit that target weight.
This was eye-opening. I didn't really understand how Hims worked until I read your story. It's distressing that our healthcare non system is failing people seeking treatment for these issues, creating opportunities like what you've described.
Man, you CAN write. Incredible piece!
The rapid alternation between failures at a thundering Old Testament tone and at a darkly ironic one over a company that hasn’t actually harmed anybody you can name, except to the tune of a few hundred dollars, is quite mystifying in more ways than one. For many people, the alternative to compounded semaglutide is continued obesity, which is perhaps three orders of magnitude more dangerous. Hims doesn’t seem exactly saintly but this seems mostly more like the “evil” of Comcast than of the Gilded Age meatpackers, whereas Novo itself is plausibly doing vast harm by fighting so hard to maintain their truly eye-watering profit margins on a drug insurance largely won’t cover.
I think Hims and Hers are really selling convenience.
For the millions of people who don't have health insurance, or live in areas where doctors are sparse, it can be rather difficult to get an appointment to see a doctor to get regular ol' prescriptions for these drugs.
Hims and Hers essentially offer a convenient way to get those prescriptions without the hassle of actually seeing a doctor -- at a premium price, of course.
Good write up, I’ll probably write it in my own thing in which I defend the quackery in modern herbal/knock off drug companies.
You know the FDA is trying to prevent the exploitation of patents that keep prices high, while simultaneously not endorsing ridiculous drugs as legitimate. It’s hard to do, and the buyer still has to beware, or talk to their doctor.
I will not blame opportunists for human stupidity.
Alex! You point out the hypocrisy so well. The marketing and self-dealing of Hims is legendary. It is what we would expect from a non-physician seeking to become a healthcare disruptor.
Great article and just what I needed to hear. I paused my sub with them a while ago and mid article fully cancelled everything with them. Writing was on the wall, but you deciphered it very well. Nice work
Ngl I have a very, very passing interest in the field of pharmacology(mostly sparked by this blog) and a poor attention span when it comes to reading articles. As such it’s difficult to get through or even get started on some of your longer pieces.
But this piece was a great read, and I’d attribute that not just to the subject matter but to your excellent prose writing skills.
(Also, I love how you end your paragraphs. It should be studied.)
Just a quick typo on the caption of the rhino pills next to the hard mints—shouldn’t it read: “three-in-one”?
Thanks, fixed!
Great article.
Insightful article. Thanks also for the excellent writing.
You sound like a big pharma shill…. The greatest claim against Hims/Hers seems to be that supplier quality is “dubious.” Sounds a lot like when the MSM uses “claimed without evidence” to discredit (because you can’t/don’t have to prove “lack of evidence”).
I don’t think the most accusatory language of other comments is merited. But, I do think your post while interesting is making claims that aren’t obviously impactful, but presenting them with damning prose.
What are the alternatives or counterfactuals? Would you propose that compounded semiglutides not be sold all together? Or some variation on this? Is your critique limited to the flavor of advertising?
These are questions I left your post wondering. Thanks, an overall good read.