Hims Makes Online Prescriptions Easy—Maybe TOO Easy

The $1.6 billion telehealth startup is about to go public. Is anybody going to rein it in?

- Kristen V. Brown and Gerrit De Vynck

A gainst 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 thank 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 larger 50mg dose costs as little as $1.70 each with a coupon.