\n<\/p>\n
I traveled to Las Vegas in May to watch the Enhanced Games<\/a> \u2014 a one-of-a-kind sports competition that lets athletes compete while using the kind of performance-enhancing drugs typically banned in professional sports. The games, derided as the \u201csteroid Olympics,\u201d were put on by a telehealth company backed by the likes of Peter Thiel<\/a> and staffed by veterans of the crypto, AI, and biotech industries.<\/p>\n The event ended up being more than a little anticlimactic. Hailed by its creators as an event that would fundamentally transform the world of organized sports, the games resulted in few exciting feats. Only one world record fell, and it came in swimming, a sport where records are broken often.<\/a><\/p>\n Now it can be said that, in addition to the games being a competitive flop, they were a commercial failure, too. Earlier this week, the Enhanced Group, the company that put on the games, posted its second-quarter<\/a> earnings report, revealing that the company had suffered a net loss of nearly $62 million. Much of that loss came from hosting the games.<\/p>\n Enhanced Group, founded only several years ago in 2023, enjoyed an IPO earlier this year<\/a>\u00a0at a $1.2 billion valuation, and\u00a0sells personalized health treatments<\/a> via a a digital telehealth platform. The treatments it sells are all FDA-approved, including peptides, testosterone injections, GLP-1s for weight loss, and other similar products.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s Q2 earnings report says it brought in $17.7 million in the last quarter, but most of that money came from sponsorships tied to the games, not the telehealth business on which the company was built. Scant information is available about how that core business is doing. The report casts doubt on claims previously made by Enhanced executives<\/a> that the games will be an annual event (the company will either have to start making a whole lot more money or be comfortable losing tens of millions of dollars a year).<\/p>\n Enhanced may already be signaling a pivot. The company\u2019s report also highlights the recent launch of a new online series, Enhanced Breakers<\/a>, which it says \u201coperates at a fraction of the cost of a full Games event\u201d while still keeping \u201cathletes competing, audiences engaged, sponsors interested, and performance medicine in front of the world year-round.\u201d<\/p>\n Enhanced\u2019s own woes aside, the industry around it is gaining ground. The peptide business is booming<\/a>, helped along by a recent decision from the Trump administration\u2019s Food and Drug Administration<\/a> to reclassify<\/a> a number of substances that have long resided in a legally gray area. The government\u2019s support doesn\u2019t open the floodgates<\/a> for the sale of those substances quite yet \u2014 an additional review process still needs to take place \u2014 but it highlights the government\u2019s interest in deregulating the industry.<\/p>\n The FDA\u2019s parent agency, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is notably overseen by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long been known for his unconventional views on health. Kennedy\u2019s ideas have been castigated<\/a> by health professionals both inside and outside of the government who have routinely characterized his thinking as dangerous<\/a> \u2014 criticism that hasn\u2019t slowed the industry\u2019s momentum.<\/p>\n Silicon Valley remains one of the hotbeds for peptide startups<\/a>, where companies like Superpower and Noho Labs are capitalizing on the tech industry\u2019s penchant for biohacking and trendy health supplements. And the sector\u2019s growth is outpacing the rules meant to govern it, with state governments struggling to keep up with regulatory schemes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n