• by Wendy Davis , July 14, 2025

The telemedicine company NextMed, which offered weight loss drugs like Ozempic, misled consumers about pricing, used fake testimonials, and asked people who posted bad reviews to remove them in exchange for Amazon gift cards.

That's according to the Federal Trade Commission, which on Monday unveiled a complaint charging NextMed with false advertising.

The company agreed to settle the charges by paying $150,000, which will be used for refunds.

NextMed and its founders "capitalized on the skyrocketing interest in prescription GLP-1 drugs for weight loss like Ozempic and Wegovy," the FTC alleges in the complaint.

"In the course of offering their GLP-1 weight-loss programs, Respondents: misled consumers about what was included in the weight-loss programs; induced consumers into signing up for annual memberships; made claims about the weight loss achieved by their clients without a reasonable basis; used fake and false testimonials; failed to disclose material connections with testimonialists; engaged in deceptive consumer review practices; and failed to timely process cancellation or refund requests," the FTC adds.

The FTC specifically alleged that NextMed offered membership programs that cost between $138 and $188 a month, and advertised that those programs would include a monthly prescription for weight-loss drugs. In fact, according to the FTC, the fees didn't include the cost of the drug itself -- which can exceed $1,000 if not covered by insurance -- or lab work and doctors' consultations.

The company also ran phony Facebook and YouTube video ads that featured an actress who claimed she had lost weight with NextMed, despite never actually using a NextMed program, according to the FTC.

In addition, NextMed allegedly used a virtual private network to generate fake reviews that were posted on Trustpilot, and requested that negative reviews be taken down.

The company also allegedly "proactively offered Amazon gift cards to consumers to remove or change negative reviews and offered refunds to consumers to remove negative reviews."

The allegations against NextMed came to light in a March 2023 article in The Wall Street Journal. The FTC alleged that the company removed all fake testimonials and phony ads after receiving an inquiry from the newspaper.

As of Monday afternoon, the company's website appeared to be down.