Page 30 - gs260402

Insights and Expertise

Online healthcare commerce:

A prescription for risk?

against violative models, developments that directly affect
e-commerce platforms and payment service providers. At
the same time, rising demand has created new opportu-
nities for illicit sellers. For example, "peptide" merchants
were once niche operators catering largely to bodybuild-
ers. Now, they market products—including GLP-1 drugs
and popular "biohacking" compounds like BPC-157—di-
rectly to mainstream consumers.

These products are often labeled "for research purposes
only" and "not for human consumption," disclaimers in-
tended to sidestep regulatory scrutiny. In practice, how-
ever, regulators assess such products based on how they
By Niamh Lewis are marketed and used. Many peptide sellers openly pitch
G2 Risk Solutions their products for consumer use—through social media
advertising, influencer marketing, and online forums—
he digital health economy is booming. despite the disclaimers on their labels.
Telehealth platforms, online marketplaces, and
cross-border fulfillment networks have made Key areas where risk hides
T it possible to obtain everything from prescrip- The challenge doesn't just lie in identifying known bad
tion medications to dietary supplements with a few actors. E-commerce and payment services professionals
clicks. However, that convenience has also led to rapidly must gain a big-picture understanding of where and how
rising risk for platforms and payment providers. At the risk manifests before they onboard sellers.
intersection of e-commerce and consumer demand for
wellness products, a complex threat landscape is taking Here are some of the critical areas identified by risk
shape. Surging demand for GLP-1 weight loss drugs, psy- analysts:
choactive compounds, and tainted supplements is creat-
ing opportunities for illicit sellers to exploit gaps across • Potentially tainted supplements: Supplements con-
e-commerce, payments, and regulatory systems. taining undeclared substances are a global problem.
When tested by regulators, many products are found
For these reasons, online healthcare commerce has be- to contain potentially dangerous, or even prescrip-
come one of the most complex and consequential risk cat- tion-only, ingredients. Certain categories of supple-
egories in digital commerce. Understanding the risks isn't ments, such as those marketed for sexual enhance-
just about compliance; it's about consumer safety. ment, weight loss or bodybuilding, are particularly
Demand for wellness products is prone to issues.
reshaping the threat landscape When consumers purchase supplements, they often
think they are taking something natural. In reality,
At the center of the digital health risk landscape is a ris- some products marketed as supplements may con-
ing wave of consumer demand. For example, GLP-1 drugs, tain prescription-only ingredients, sometimes at dos-
known under brand names such as Ozempic, Wegovy, es several times higher than approved drugs. For ex-
Mounjaro, and Zepbound, have become one of the fastest- ample, the FDA flagged more than two dozen honey-
growing drug categories in history. based products (see https://tinyurl.com/2tdhy6xm)
for containing hidden drug ingredients (such as
An estimated 12 percent of U.S. adults (see https://tinyurl. sildenafil and tadalafil, the active ingredients in Vi-
com/5fpaf7m4) have used some form of GLP-1 therapy, and agra and Cialis).
global sales are projected to reach $150 billion (see https://
tinyurl.com/2k6dab8b) by the early 2030s. In addition, many As with other high-risk supplements, social media
Americans pay out of pocket, making these drugs particu- attention and word-of-mouth can accelerate demand,
larly attractive to digital-first sellers. An entire ecosystem even when consumers do not realize what they are
has emerged around demand for these drugs. Direct-to- ingesting (see https://tinyurl.com/45n4zdyf).
consumer tele-health models, compounding pharmacies, The challenge is that tainted products often appear
and med spas sit adjacent to traditional brick-and-mortar alongside otherwise legitimate inventory. A single
clinics and pharmacies. As access to GLP-1 medications high-risk supplement may be sold by a third-party
expands, regulators have increased enforcement actions
30