Oddity launches telehealth skincare platform Methodiq

Il Makiage parent company Oddity is branching out into medical-grade skincare with its recent brand Methodiq, as the web retailer looks to compete with Hims and help to deal with what it called a “broken medical care system.” 

Methodiq, which has been within the works for 4 years and launched on Tuesday, is a telehealth platform that can offer 28 recent products, including creams, supplements and cosmetics, that address pimples, hyperpigmentation and eczema. The lineup is a mixture of prescription and over-the-counter items that range in price from about $29 to around $59. 

Methodiq combines Oddity’s investments into biotechnology, AI-based computational imaging, and digital retailing. It would allow the corporate to realize a slice of the burgeoning medical skincare market, which is projected to achieve $113 billion this yr, in keeping with Research and Markets. 

The corporate’s expansion into medical skincare takes direct aim at Hims, which offers popular anti-acne medications and other prescriptions through a telehealth platform. The launch signals Oddity could move deeper into health care in the long run. 

“We’ve got these 60 million users on our platform. We all know loads about them. Around half of them have some combo of pimples, eczema, hyperpigmentation. We serve numerous them, obviously, already with Il Makiage complexion products or foundation concealer. We have never had the chance before … to really treat the condition,” said Oddity finance chief Lindsay Drucker Mann. “That is why dermatology is an obvious place to begin for us. From there, there’s many other medical domains for us to expand into.” 

Oddity, which is about to announce 2025 third-quarter results on Wednesday, hasn’t included Methodiq in its 2025 or 2026 revenue outlooks, primarily since it expects sales to make up only a small portion of overall revenue, said Drucker Mann. Nonetheless, she said the brand has “enormous revenue potential in the long run,” especially if Methodiq expands beyond just medical skincare.

She pointed to Hims’ goal of reaching $6.5 billion in annual revenue by 2030 and said it shows “the dimensions of what you may do with a successful telehealth” platform. 

Still, the strategy doesn’t come without challenges. Pharmaceutical products are heavily regulated, the sector is becoming more competitive and customer trust is tough to win.

Plus, telehealth platforms could be difficult to scale safely. In March, The Wall Street Journal published an investigation into Hims showing how some patients experienced serious uncomfortable side effects after taking hair loss medication from the corporate. A lot of the patients said they didn’t realize the drugs could include those uncomfortable side effects, while others felt they weren’t adequately warned.

The publication found unlike drugmakers, telehealth corporations aren’t required to reveal uncomfortable side effects and other risks in advertisements.

In 2021, it acquired Voyage81, a deep tech AI-based computational imaging startup that was co-founded by the previous head of research and development for one among the Israel Defense Forces’ elite technological units. Two years later, it acquired biotech startup Revela and created Oddity Labs. The unit has been working to create brand-new molecules with artificial intelligence that could be utilized in its cosmetics brands and future lines.

Voyage81’s imaging capabilities and the brand new molecules from Oddity Labs are each a part of the Methodiq platform. 

When consumers join Methodiq, they fill out details about their skin concerns and undergo a facial scan, which maps out their face and determines what conditions, if any, they’ve. A medical doctor then reviews the data and recommends a set of products that patients receive in a “kit” at regular intervals. 

The kits can include widely available standard pimples medication, equivalent to the oral antibiotic Doxycycline, but in addition fresh approaches to anti-acne creams. 

For instance, Methodiq’s Clindalaq product incorporates tretinoin, a prescription-strength topical retinoid used to treat pimples and other skin concerns, but in addition a mixture of other ingredients that aim to make it more desirable to consumers than the usual creams prescribed by doctors. It includes hydrocortisone to alleviate uncomfortable side effects related to strong retinols, in addition to aloe vera extract and vitamin E to make the product more hydrating. 

CNBC tested the product at Oddity’s Recent York City headquarters earlier this month and located each the feel and smell was different from the generic tretinoin cream disbursed by pharmacies. While the generic was white and gloopy, the Clindalaq was smooth and blended into the skin without leaving a visual residue. It also did not have a medicinal smell. 

“We’re in a position to deliver these very strong acne-fighting ingredients, but in a formulation that is tolerable and will help actively fight uncomfortable side effects multi function,” said Alex Kaplan, Methodiq’s vice chairman of product development. “What we’re in a position to deliver is a real beauty experience in a prescription formula.” 

At the least 50 million Americans are affected by pimples and nearly 1 in 10 have probably the most common type of eczema, atopic dermatitis, in keeping with the American Academy of Dermatology. Nonetheless, there is no dermatologist in any respect in greater than 60% of U.S. counties, in keeping with a 2018 study published in JAMA Dermatology. 

Methodiq goals to deal with that need by providing access to medical professionals and products that combat common skin concerns. Methodiq CEO Tom Amsterdam said a clinician will review every patient intake, recommend products after which stay connected with the patient through your entire course of the treatment.

While the platform is not set as much as handle video or voice telehealth sessions between patients and doctors, patients can stay in contact with their doctor through a chat function where they will update them on their progress and adjust their treatment plan as needed. 

All the doctors might be based within the U.S., but not all of them might be board certified in dermatology, said Amsterdam. 

Dr. Amy Wechsler, a board-certified dermatologist based in Recent York City who just isn’t connected to Methodiq, said having a big selection of doctors on staff to prescribe treatments will help increase access to care.  

“In lots of parts of the country, patients do not need quick access to a dermatologist, which is why pediatricians, internists and other healthcare providers step in to prescribe treatments for pimples, hyperpigmentation, and eczema,” Wechsler said in an email to CNBC. “This could be secure so long as the provider is knowledgeable concerning the medications they’re prescribing, including proper use, potential uncomfortable side effects, and when a patient needs to be referred to a dermatologist.”