I guess I'm trying to figure out what the secret sauce is that makes this a YC company, there are at least dozens, probably hundreds of telehealth GLP prescribers, manufacturing it yourself doesn't really seem like a value-add, all of them will compound with B12 for the reasons you mention elsewhere, it's hard to believe that "tell your doctor you're having side effects and they will adjust your dose" is a YC-worthy innovation. What am I missing?
I get owning the supply chain and the compounding part.
There is big deal about 503a and 503b compounding pharmacies as well.
That's why the website copy is overdone with "for you" to qualify as and the example on the bottom shows Semaglutide and Cyanocobalamin (Vitamin b12) because that is the current FDA loophole.
They can not just offer the main compounded chemical/medicine but must combine it (alongside blood tests, supposedly but every other MSO skirts this by suggesting higher BMI during intake or a selfie.)
Any 503b compounding pharmacy selling compounded, non-additive Semagluitide is breaking the law.
A 503a is the loophole because the prescriber, "determines" and documents that the product change is neccessary/significant difference for said patient.
The current risk (or perhaps pro depending on how you want to look at it) in this political enviornment is positioning the company in a place to run foul of the FDA. Florida based compounding pharmacies are divesting from GLP-1's (e.g. BPI https://bpi-labs.net/ ) due to legal threat.
I respect the regulatory arbitrage, but for example Uber and Airbnb both arguably had pretty revolutionary tech layers on top of that. Trying to figure out what the equivalent here is.
Well, there are two big equivalents here:
One, Uber successfully lobbied cities (NYC DeBlasio comes to mind, but there was one in London) - getting to a scale before meaningful enforcement action (which sometimes means investors maintaining their trust in the team, and the team sticking through the lawsuits) usually means you now have a customer base that is of voting age, and can substantially impact politics.
Two, Chevron deference is over. This is linked somewhat to the first - the overreach of federal agencies is now judicially balanced against the economic impact, not merely presumed authorized by Congress. Under this SCOTUS it is relatively uncertain which way FDA's authority will be curtailed - people will try, the fact that FDA wants to regulate the sale of non-invasive diagnostic equipment and mobile apps.. does warrant review and political discussion.
I'd wager the technical advantage is on the backend not the consumer facing. You'd be surprised how unsophisticated an unoptimized a lot of industries are.
On the manufacturing side of the world, "did this thing show up when I expected" is a remarkably difficult yet valuable question.
Previous YC founder so they’re already connected and vetted. Since then they’ve proven another 0-1 success with masks and manufacturing. Now they’re onto something very obviously hitting tailwinds.
The investment is peanuts to the fund. You’re missing the full-story deck and if they’ve shown traction it seems like a no brainer.
(btw for Lloyd the founder, Jason hired me right here from HN for ownlocal. It was my first professional software job. You guys made my career. Thank you)
