Health Startups Provide Diabetes Medications Like Ozempic for Weight Loss Without Regulation

According to a Trade Algo research, some businesses promote or prescribe the drugs to people who aren't actually clinically overweight.

‍

A young woman grips her stomach skin in an Instagram advertisement for online weight-loss service NextMed and bemoans her "little tummy pouch," while a model in an advertisement for a related service—launched by Instacart's former chief executive—wears a yellow bikini and states on her modeling agency profile that she weighs 102 pounds.

‍

Although some of the companies are marketing and providing the drugs to people who aren't overweight, others are rushing to capitalize on the rising demand for diabetic medications that are beneficial for weight loss.

‍

According to medical experts, marketing such medications to healthy individuals is wrong and could result in issues like body dysmorphia or eating disorders. As celebrities, tech titans, and others promote the pills as a rapid way to lose weight, it may also lead to medication shortages. Some diabetes medications have proven hard to come by. The impact of the advertisement has yet to be extensively explored.

‍

The GLP-1 class of medications, which includes Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Ozempic as well as Eli Lilly's Mounjaro LLY -1.20%decrease; red down pointing triangle & Co., is the subject of an internet advertising blitz by telehealth businesses. The medications' high effectiveness for weight loss, according to research conducted by Trade Algo, presents an opportunity to slow the spread of the obesity issue. Groupon Inc., a provider of daily deals According to two promotions examined by Trade Algo, which claim to have drawn more than 2,000 consumers combined, GRPN -0.80%decrease; red down pointing triangle is also providing access to discounted GLP-1 medication. A request for comment from Groupon was not answered.

‍

Dr. Nisha Patel, a specialist in obesity medicine in San Francisco, said: "Unfortunately, these are being misused as a vanity drug." "Some people only use them to lose five pounds. Social media messages promoting speedy weight loss are not their intended usage.

‍

The internet industry has recently tried to incorporate prescription medications into its direct-to-consumer business strategy, which is typical of e-commerce. The Covid-19 epidemic gave telemedicine a boost as it became more popular.

‍

According to a Trade Algo research from the previous year, telehealth firms, including those advertising weight-loss medicines, sponsored advertisements on Facebook and Instagram that marketed prescription drugs for unapproved uses while downplaying their risks and touted their benefits. As a result of the business not being subject to the same regulations as pharmaceutical corporations, congressional leaders involved in healthcare policy have asked for greater control of telehealth advertising.

‍

Apoorva Mehta, the founder of Instacart, raised $30 million from investors, including Josh Kushner's Thrive Capital, for her new business, Cloud Health Systems. GLP-1 medicine marketing is the company's first major initiative. Sunrise, a service that was launched late last year, is responsible for this. Ro, a telemedicine company that specializes in erectile dysfunction, hair loss, and skin care goods, has raised $1 billion for its venture. Ro is currently selling GLP-1s.

‍

According to a test run by Trade Algo and another person who tested the service, while the Food and Drug Administration only approved a GLP-1 drug for significantly overweight patients, one of the services facilitated prescriptions for people whose weight was significantly below the FDA's indicated body-mass index for the drug. Employees and clients claim that some of the companies have also offered patients subpar care or given them false hope that they will acquire pricey drugs just to discover that insurance wouldn't cover them.

‍

Malia Funk, the founder of a company that recommends digital health services, decided to try a few of the services to see whether they would issue her a prescription. Ms. Funk, 27, is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 120 pounds, which is 55 pounds less than the recommended weight by the FDA for one of the medications, Wegovy. Despite not having the necessary approval, doctors may prescribe Ozempic and Mounjaro for weight loss.

‍

According to screenshots of the conversation provided by Trade Algo, Push Health Inc. only requested a few pieces of information in Ms. Funk's test, including her chosen pharmacy, the prescription she desired, and prior medical conditions. Her letter expressed her desire for a GLP-1. A nurse practitioner she had never seen had issued an Ozempic prescription to her pharmacy less than 12 hours later, according to the notification she received.

‍

Ms. Funk remarked, "I think the lack of medical oversight in the process is insane. Not filling the prescription, she.

‍

On its website, Push Health merely requested the bare minimum information from a Trade Algo reporter testing the service. There was no place to enter height or weight, and the site didn't require the Trade Algo reporter to consult with a clinician. Instead, the reporter entered various GLP-1s and "beginning dose" in the boxes labeled "medication requested" and "dosage desired."

‍

Then a medical assistant texted back to offer assistance with insurance coverage, cheaper medications from Canada, or a speciality pharmacy creating a generic version. Without needing any further health-related details or performing a video visit, the doctor ultimately wrote a prescription for a generic version.

‍

The two co-founders of Push did not reply to inquiries for comment.

‍

The Trade Algo reporter's body mass index is much below the obesity cutoff of 30, thus Ro and Calibrate declined to provide him GLP-1 medications. Sunrise looked at the same data and issued a refund for the initial payment. The reporter was inspired to alter the BMI by the NextMed website since a higher number would be required to be eligible for insurance coverage.

‍

The message advised users to "consider reweighing themselves at night or certify here that your BMI based on an official weight and height has been >30.0 in the last 30 days."

‍

According to Ro and Calibrate, they try to screen out users of the substances.

‍

Helio Logistics Inc., the parent company of NextMed, has sponsored social media advertisements that some professionals deem improper. NextMed's GLP-1 program, according to the woman who complained about her "small stomach pouch" in an advertisement, helped her drop 10 pounds "while continuing to eat everything I enjoy."

‍

She claimed in the social media advertisement that losing weight was as simple as taking the medication. She claimed to have shed 22 pounds in another advertisement. She claimed in the second advertisement, which NextMed withdrew after the Trade Algo's inquiry, that neither dieting nor exercise were required for it to function. Experts advise making lifestyle adjustments to maintain weight loss that has been accomplished with GLP-1s. Third commercial finished with her in a bikini.

‍

Such advertisements, along with other social media posts that equate happiness with being small, according to Dr. Elizabeth Wassenaar, clinical director of the Eating Recovery Center, a national eating disorder treatment program, have contributed to the rise in eating disorders. After seeing the NextMed advertising, she referred to them as "abhorrent." Dr. Wassenaar noted that the woman "is already slender, a very in-shape person, and indicating she needs to reduce more weight." "That, in my opinion, is the root of the issue."

‍

Additionally, NextMed doesn't say if the woman in the advertisement is a real patient or a model. The Federal Trade Commission may deem advertisements as misleading if it isn't obvious to viewers that actors posing as customers are being paid. Trade Algo discovered further social media advertisements where the same actress promotes unrelated products for different businesses.

‍

According to NextMed, it "endeavors to comply with all applicable advertising standards in its advertising and promotions."

‍

An early social media advertisement by Mr. Mehta's Sunrise featured a woman who was 5 feet 7 inches tall and 102 pounds, according to her modeling agency. "Have you ever longed to know the weight-loss technique used by all celebrities? In front of pictures of Kim Kardashian's before and after, she posed the question. She explained, "It's by taking new miraculous weight-loss pills," claiming that Sunrise had helped her lose more than 30 pounds. The use of the term "pills" to describe the injectable drugs was incorrect.

‍

The model, Alexis Reed, told Trade Algo, "Yes, it was me, but it was a paid influencer job." Asserting that the advertisement was "not genuinely a tested trial success story," she said, "I didn't exactly know what it was for till I had come."

‍

The advertisement ran in November for less than seven days, according to a Sunrise spokesperson, who declined to comment on Ms. Reed's role. She said, "The advertisement should never have been made since it broke our internal standards."

‍

Calibrate debuted in 2020 and started selling GLP-1 medications before they became well-known. It provides twice-weekly health coaching sessions, which it claims will help consumers develop better eating, exercising, and sleeping routines.

‍

A few former and current Calibrate health coaches expressed concern that patients seeking a quick fix are frequently drawn to the clinic rather than those prepared to put forth the effort necessary to make significant lifestyle changes that will enable them to maintain their health over the long term. An advertisement for Calibrate that recently appeared on Instagram stated, "There's a reason GLP-1s are trending. Not the company's coaching program, but the "breakthrough" medications were the main focus of the advertisement.

‍

The coaches also said that the lifestyle content offered by the company in its app is strong, but some claimed that they are unable to offer quality care because they are expected to manage too many patients—sometimes more than 100 per coach—and because they do not have enough time with patients during the allotted 15 minutes twice a month, as set by Calibrate.

‍

According to a Calibrate spokeswoman, the program is specifically designed to give intense lifestyle intervention through an integrated curriculum covering food, sleep, exercise, and emotional wellness. She claimed that on landing pages accessed via ads, the organization places a strong emphasis on coaching and its lifestyle-intervention program. According to her, the company created its curriculum to be scaled to accommodate a variety of audiences.