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Spooky23today at 3:34 AM1 replyview on HN

Hims is mostly marketing. They are using compounding pharmacies to fulfill orders. Compounders are a shady industry in general, and most the GLP places are using Florida pharmacies, which are notoriously extra shady, as Floridas regulatory function is deliberately incompetent.

Compounders are primarily regulated at the state level, and regulatory effectiveness varies. The more legit ones are mostly buying Rybelsus (the pill version of Ozempic for Type 2 diabetes) at wholesale and crushing it. The shadier ones are using precursors, sourcing from questionable & unregulated suppliers or watering down does and adding stuff like vitamin B-12.

The FDA has more limited jurisdiction, and they have been busy firing people.

The federal attention probably has more to do with whatever grift POTUS has going with Eli Lily and Novo Nordisk. Both companies are about to scale up their daily tablet versions of Wegovy and Zepbound at lower price points, and that availability will push the cost of compounded injectables way down.


Replies

nostreboredtoday at 3:55 AM

They are adding B12 as a way to say that it’s tailored to individuals and not available.

I’ve used mainly compounded medicine over the last five years and find the fervent dislike that people have for compounders bizarre.

If you look into generic regulation in the US, the standards are already through the floor. I’d rather work with someone who has a more direct financial incentive to not fuck up.