How Rx Peps Direct separates care from medication costs
Marcus Hansen, Founder/CEO of Rx Peps Direct, describes a service that connects adults with licensed providers for prescription peptide therapy and ongoing protocol management. The conversation looks at why the company bills medication separately through the pharmacy, how it attracts patients organically, and how patient feedback changed its program.
Make the costs and responsibilities clear to customers, then ask for their feedback early. Rx Peps Direct’s separate provider and pharmacy billing model and changes to its program grew from those priorities.
What’s the short story of how your business started, and what makes it genuinely different from the other options your customers have?
I started Rx Peps Direct because I’m a peptide user myself. For a long time, the only option I had was research use only peptides. I never knew whether I was getting what I paid for or where it came from, and a COA only goes so far. I was reconstituting powder in my kitchen and asking ChatGPT how to do it, and as much as I love AI, it isn’t a doctor. So we built a way for people to get peptides prescribed by a U.S. licensed provider and compounded by a licensed U.S. pharmacy. What makes us different is that patients pay the pharmacy directly for their medication. We don’t mark it up or take a cut, so something that costs $299 elsewhere runs about $136 delivered through us. Patients can also stay with the same provider through live video visits and ongoing protocol management, so they aren’t left on their own after the first prescription.
How did you win your first customers, and where does most of your new business come from today?
Everything from day one has been organic: SEO, showing up in AI search results, a positive reputation, and referrals from current patients. We launched in May and are on track to pass 2,000 patients in November, all through organic channels.
What’s one decision that changed the direction of your business, and one mistake that taught you the most?
The decision came early. We started out like every other telehealth company, with one all-in price for the provider review, the peptide, and shipping. We realized everyone does that, and patients don’t understand what they’re paying for. Our goal was to put patients before profit, and in our research the two things people worried about most were whether the peptide was legitimate and whether they’d get a real medical review and protocol. So we split it up. A licensed U.S. provider reviews the patient’s health history, the prescription goes to the pharmacy, and the pharmacy bills the patient separately. It’s a little more work, but patients like it because it works like their primary care doctor: the doctor sends the script, and you pay at a local pharmacy.
My biggest mistake was not asking patients for feedback sooner. Over the last 30 days, I’ve run feedback forms, spoken with patients on the phone, and done video interviews, and it has reshaped the program. That feedback led to our $99 program, where patients meet with a provider every month. I would have done this month 2 if I could go back in time.
What has changed in your industry or in what your customers expect over the last couple of years, and how have you adapted?
The industry is changing fast. Large telehealth brands are investing heavily in peptides, and that will reshape the space. Customers have changed too. They’re done guessing. They want to know the product is real, that a licensed provider is involved, and that they can actually talk to that provider. We adapted by adding live video visits and ongoing protocol management, without changing the model that keeps costs low. We’re not chasing bigger margins to compete with the big brands. Our patient knows what they want but can’t pay $250 a month per peptide. With Rx Peps Direct, they get the peptides they need, a medical review, a protocol built for them, and a provider they can see on video, for much less. Our model won’t change, regardless of what the larger companies do.
If you were advising someone starting out in your industry today, what would you tell them to do first, and what would you tell them to ignore?
First, don’t start a research use only company. I expect that channel to be largely gone by the end of next year. Build a compliant compounded peptide business, which means having corporate practice of medicine (CPOM) covered. You can set up CPOM yourself in every state you want to serve, which is slow, expensive, and required for anyone offering medical services. But it also has a higher margin if you do it right. Or you can outsource the medical side to a white-label partner like Openloop or ConduitMD. Start with the second. Spend your first 12 months building revenue. Then invest in going direct to a pharmacy, hiring your own clinical staff, and setting up CPOM yourself, which is where long-term margin comes from. Read your contracts before you make that move. What I’d ignore: the research-use-only shortcut and the urge to build your own medical infrastructure on day one.
Thank you to Marcus Hansen and the team at Rx Peps Direct for sharing what actually worked with Leaders Perception readers.
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