Direct-To-Consumer Medicine: Quick And Discreet, But What's Lost?
If you're on Instagram, or if you've taken the New York City Subway lately, chances are you've heard of Hims, the men's health and wellness company with a penchant for advertisements featuring suggestive cacti and eggplants against pastel backgrounds. The web-based startup targets the young male demographic with skincare products, multivitamins, and erectile dysfunction medications.
In January, just a few months after its first birthday, the company joined Silicon Valley's vaunted "unicorn" club: It received a venture-capital investment that put its valuation at $1 billion.
The ambitious valuation is certainly a remarkable achievement for the young company. But it's also yet another signal that a new e-commerce market that one might call "direct-to-consumer medicine" is on the rise.
Although the companies
