In May this year Digital search engine company JustAnswer made a strange turn: it started selling weight-loss drugs. Launching an online pharmacy to sell GLP-1 wasn’t an obvious next step for a company offering paid expert advice, but CEO Andy Kurtzig says the decision was driven partly by ChatGPT’s advice and partly by passionate customer interest. According to him, the number of drug-related inquiries more than doubled between 2024 and 2025.
Plus, finding support was simple: WhiteLabelMD handles customer service, provides software, and connects patients with doctors who prescribe drugs like semaglutide and tirzepatide. “We wouldn’t go into this if we had to build everything from scratch,” says Kurtzig.
JustAnswer is part of a growing movement of aspiring virtual clinic owners who are relying on so-called turnkey telehealth services to revitalize their healthcare brands. These intermediaries perform indispensable work, from finding lists of doctors and nurses to ensuring regulatory compliance. Instead of starting a sophisticated healthcare business from scratch, potential customers can purchase ready-made software and infrastructure and get up and running quickly – sometimes shockingly quickly. Fuse Health, a newer turnkey startup specializing in peptides, boasts this can help brands will be available in three hours. “Yes, we have set a schedule,” the website reads.
Like JustAnswer, some of the entry-level telehealth offerings come from companies that are already established in other fields. Gay dating app Grindr launched Woodwork telehealth division in 2025; uses OpenLoop, a vast turnkey company, to deliver ED drugs Sermorelin peptide and GLP-1 drugs. However, the rise of turnkey projects also means that almost anyone with a website and some money can get in on the game.
“Now everyone can benefit from telehealth, thanks to infrastructure companies like ours,” says Jiten Chhabra, chief medical officer of another leading turnkey company, CareValidate, who describes this era as the era of “telehealth for everything.” CareValidate has created topic guides for clients looking to address particularly popular industries, including GLP-1, peptides, prescription skin care, and hormone replacement therapy. Chhabra says the company frequently partners with fitness centers, gyms and other health-related brands, including Bodybuilding.com. But he also works with non-traditional clients, including: with a cosmetics brand and a company that rents chairs to hairdressers.
One of our digital marketing clients decided to run a virtual clinic for the treatment of nail fungus – toe fungus. “They don’t have any clinical experience, but they know there’s a demand online, people are looking for prescription medications for toe fungus,” Chhabra says.
In his opinion, the pace at which up-to-date brands appear is astronomical. “We run at least one a day.”
“This is going to be a game changer,” says Scott Roth, CEO of LegitScript, a company that certifies telehealth providers and pharmacies. “Anyone who has an audience could potentially be in it – a gym, an influencer, and so on.” Some influencers have already gotten involved. Reality TV star and MAGA podcaster Savannah Chrisley founded Good Girl RX in 2025, focusing on GLP-1; in his own terms of servicerefers to connecting patients with providers from Beluga Health, another turnkey company.
So how many of these companies are there? It’s tough to say: the FDA doesn’t require registration, and the rapid growth is tough to keep up with. Sabina Hemmi, co-founder and CEO of GLP-1 provider comparison startup GLP Winner, says she doesn’t even try to track up-to-date startups anymore because there are just too many of them.
“We see a lot of vibration code sites,” he says. “There has been an escalate in what I call ‘marketing bros’ entering this space.” These operators see an opportunity for profit, but have no experience or interest in medicine or customer experience, he says. He calls it the “Temu telehealth experience,” referring to the notoriously displacing Chinese e-commerce giant.