Almost anyone can sell you GLP-1s online now

This May, Digital research company JustAnswer has made a strange transformation: it has started selling weight-loss drugs. Launching an online pharmacy to distribute products GLP-1s This wasn’t the obvious next step for a company that offers paid expert guidance, but CEO Andy Kurtzig says the decision was driven partly by ChatGPT’s advice and partly by keen customer interest. Number of inquiries related to the topic Drugs He says it doubled between 2024 and 2025.

Plus, help was easy to find: A company called WhiteLabelMD handles customer service, provides software, and connects patients with doctors who prescribe drugs like semaglutide and tirizpatide. “We wouldn’t have gotten to this if we had to build it all from scratch,” Kurtzig says.

JustAnswer is part of a growing movement of start-up virtual clinic owners who rely on so-called off-the-shelf telehealth services to launch their medical brands. These intermediaries do the hard work, from finding lists of doctors and nurses to ensuring regulatory compliance. Instead of starting a complex wellness business from the ground up, potential clients can buy off-the-shelf software and infrastructure and get started quickly—sometimes shockingly quickly. Fuse Health, a new startup specializing in peptides, is proud of this can help The brands will be launched within three hours. “Yes, we have set the timing,” it said on its website.

Like JustAnswer, some entry-level telehealth offerings come from companies that are already established in other industries. Gay dating app Grindr It launched a telehealth subsidiary, Woodwork, in 2025; It uses OpenLoop, a major integrated company, to provide its erectile dysfunction, Sermorelin peptide, and GLP-1 drugs. But the rise of turnkey also means that anyone with a website and some money can get in on the game.

“Anyone can now get into telehealth thanks to infrastructure companies like ours,” says Jitin Chhabra, chief medical officer at another leading integrated company, CareValidate, who describes this era as the era of “telehealth for everything.” CareValidate has created topic-specific guides for clients who want to jump into particularly popular verticals, including GLP-1s, peptides, prescription skin care, and hormone replacement therapy. Chhabra says the company often works with fitness centers, gyms and other health-related brands, including Bodybuilding.com. But she also works with non-traditional clients, including a cosmetics brand and a company that rents chairs to hairdressers.

A client with a digital marketing background decided to run a virtual clinic for onychomycosis – toe fungus. “They don’t have any clinical experience, but they know there’s demand online, with people looking for a prescription for toe fungus,” Chhabra says.

He says the rate at which new brands are being launched is astronomical. “At least, we shoot one a day.”

“This is going to change the game,” says Scott Roth, CEO of LegitScript, a company that provides certifications for telehealth providers and pharmacies. “Anyone with an audience can get into this space – a gym, an influencer, you name it.” Some influencers have already joined. Reality TV star and MAGA podcaster Savannah Chrisley is launching Good Girl RX, focused on GLP-1, in 2025; In it Terms of Serviceit refers to connecting patients with providers from Beluga Health, another integrated company.

So, how many companies are there? It’s hard to say: the FDA doesn’t require registration, and it’s hard to keep up with the explosive growth. Sabina Hemi, co-founder and CEO of winning service provider startup GLP-1, says she no longer even tries to track new startups, because there are simply too many of them.

“We see a lot of sites with tokens,” she says. “There has been a rise in what I call ‘marketing bros’ entering this space.” These operators see an opportunity to make a profit, but have no background or interest in medicine or customer experience, she says. She calls it “Timo’s telehealth experiment,” a reference to the notoriously made-up idea Chinese e-commerce giant.