Saw this in a tech article, apparently $100M/yr now.
The supplements known as peptides—chains of amino acids that promise to help those who smear, ingest, or inject them achieve everything from weight loss to skin rejuvenation—have become their own largely unregulated pharmaceutical subindustry. So it figures that their growth is being fueled by cryptocurrency, often sent directly to the Chinese labs that sell these mysterious panaceas.
Crypto-tracing firm Chainalysis this week published an analysis of crypto flows to peptide sellers, a gray market that the company now measures at more than $100 million a year and growing. Chainalysis specifically found that some of the same Chinese labs that were previously selling fentanyl precursors have now switched to manufacturing and selling peptides. The transition, Chainalysis believes, is designed to cash in on the wave of “looksmaxing” hype across social media that has pushed peptide sales—and to avoid the risk of a law enforcement crackdown on opioid manufacturers.
I suspect that a large portion of this market will go “legit” as low cost GLP-1s become available in the US. Why buy Grey when the cost differential will be minimal…
Lawmakers warned that China seeks to dominate the entire supply chain—following a similar playbook seen in rare earths, semiconductors, and electric vehicles, stressing the need to boost domestic production. A U.S. Pharmacopeia analysis last year found that 41 percent of foundational chemicals used to make U.S.-approved drug ingredients—the building blocks from which APIs are synthesized—come exclusively from China. For nearly 680 APIs, accounting for 37 percent of those in the study, China is the sole supplier of at least one such ingredient.
China hawks called to crack down on the flow of core drug ingredients produced by unregulated Chinese entities. Sen. Tom Cotton in February urged the FDA to clamp down on “unsafe ingredients in our pharmaceutical supply chain” and described China’s access to the U.S. supply chain as posing “national security risks as well as significant health risks to American patients.” Many Republicans have alluded to China’s role in supplying fentanyl products to U.S. consumers as a justification for taking action against pharmaceutical imports from the country.
Not surprising that the loss of manufacturing capacity in the US is also manisfestating in pharmaceuticals.