## The 'Subscription' Medicine Trap
Dozens of unicorns were minted by putting generic Viagra, Hair Loss meds, and GLP-1 weight loss drugs into sleek millennial packaging and running Facebook ads. The thesis was that patients would subscribe to these medications for life, creating infinite SaaS-like recurring revenue. Wall Street was wrong.
### FAQ
**Q: Why do Telehealth D2C companies struggle with profitability?**
A: Churn. Patients will buy a hair loss subscription for 4 months, realize the medication is actually cheaper at their local Costco pharmacy or with their real insurance, and cancel. If you spend $450 to acquire a patient on Instagram, but your gross profit is only $60/month, it takes 7.5 months just to break even. If the average patient churns and cancels after 6 months, the telehealth company mathematically loses money on every "customer" they serve.