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The $1.6 billion telehealth startup is about to go public. Is anybody going to rein it in?
Against all odds, the box of pills is cute. On one side of its winsome cardboard shell, a custom typeface spells out the brand name, Hims, in all lowercase, giving off a vibe somewhere between an e.e. cummings poem and a retro zine. A pamphlet that comes with the drug-Addyi, a controversial pill that aims to increase female libido-trades in millennial-empowerment language worthy of Goop. "Future you thanks you," it begins, followed by a string of rah-rah slogans like "balance is everything" and "you're not alone." Also included: a stylized postcard of a woman joyfully watering plants in a pair of clogs. The minimalist white pill bottle would blend in on a shelf at an Apple Store.
Hims Inc. is a 3-year-old telehealth company in San Francisco. This year, as the pandemic created a surge of demand for online medical care, the startup began providing Covid-19 tests as well as primary care and mental health services. Mostly, though, it's known for offering generic prescription drugs to treat erectile dysfunction and hair loss. Customers fill out an online questionnaire, perhaps exchange a few messages with a prescribing physician, then get the medication shipped to their homes without having to take a separate trip to the doctor. For this service, Hims charges a premium. It sells a month's worth of a generic version of Viagra for $4 per 40-milligram pill; at local pharmacies, a ч larger 50mg dose costs as little as $1.70 each with a coupon. \ In Hims ads and on the company's website, the prodj j relevant medical information is scattered among J hyperphallic cacti, eggplant emojis, and a cartoon Snoop Dogg. As with other mail-order brands of the past decade, such as Casper and Warby Parker-which sell mattresses and eyeglasses, respectively-the packaging is central to the sales pitch. In an interview conducted pre-Covid, Chief Executive Officer Andrew Dudum says his goal was to build a health-care delivery system with the inviting gloss of Instagram. "When you use it, endorphins are rushing through your body," Dudum says of the photo-sharing site. "That currently doesn't happen in the health system, which is a big problem. It's an...