The Food and Drug Administration is cracking down on telehealth companies’ marketing of compounded versions of weight loss drugs. In recent months, the agency has warned them against implying that their products are FDA approved, or that they themselves manufacture the products.
But those companies may not be the only ones under the microscope.Â
The telehealth companies that have been warned — with names like Lovely Meds, Hello Cake, and MEDVi — don’t directly prescribe the medications, which are not approved by the FDA or evaluated for safety and efficacy. That falls to the clinicians in medical groups affiliated with the companies. And a STAT analysis shows that cited companies can share clinical DNA.
Among more than 70 telehealth companies warned by the FDA in the last six months, at least 30% have publicly stated affiliations with just four nationwide medical groups: Beluga Health, OpenLoop, MD Integrations, and Telegra.Â
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