Maha Inc: how companies tied to Kennedy’s movement are poised to benefit
Kaleidoscope of industries emerge as early winners from administration’s health regulation overhaul
Businesses tied to Robert F Kennedy Jr’s Make America Healthy Again movement are poised to benefit from a regulatory overhaul in Washington, as companies aligned with his agenda emerge as its earliest winners.
At a two-day meeting at the US Food and Drug Administration on Thursday and Friday, a Kennedy-backed advisory panel voted to broaden public access to a handful of drugs known as peptides, despite the agency’s scientific staff advising against it.
Wall Street analysts say the market for the drugs — which have gained popularity through social media claims ranging from rapid healing to muscular development — could grow into a multibillion-dollar opportunity for pharmacies, telehealth providers and drugmakers.
While President Donald Trump has drawn scrutiny for promoting cryptocurrencies and other businesses linked to his administration, less attention has focused on healthcare companies that could benefit from regulatory shifts under Kennedy. Now, a parallel “Maha Inc” kaleidoscope of companies and industries whose prospects are tied to the White House’s healthcare agenda is emerging.
One likely beneficiary is Enhanced Group, a telehealth company whose investors include Donald Trump Jr. It is preparing to sell peptides and its founder and chair, Christian Angermayer, appeared at a Maha event in November. Enhanced did not respond to a request for comment.
Olympia Pharmaceuticals, a Florida-based pharmacy that also appeared at the conference, has made multiple contributions to a Maha political fundraising group operated by one of Kennedy’s close associates, including one payment just a month after the FDA said it would consider loosening restrictions on peptides.
Olympia’s chief executive is also on the Maha group’s board of directors. Olympia also stands to benefit from the regulatory changes, according to investment bank Needham.
The FDA panel was “stacked” with people from the pharmacy industry who stand to benefit from the regulatory changes for peptides, said Paul Kim, a partner at consultancy Kendall Square Policy Strategies. “The conflicts here are astonishing,” he said. “It is political theatre at this point.”
Other sectors featured at the Maha conference have also benefited from regulatory changes under Kennedy. Companies developing psychedelic therapies and wearable health technologies are also poised to benefit from regulatory changes he has championed.
The FDA is scheduled to consider expanding access to psychedelic drugs in September. Shares of companies developing treatments based on psilocybin “magic” mushrooms, LSD and MDMA, also known as ecstasy, rose in April after the president signed an executive order increasing access to the drugs. Angermayer is also founder of psychedelics company AtaiBeckley.
Manufacturers of wearable health-tracking devices have also benefited under Kennedy. Earlier this year, the FDA updated guidance for wellness devices such as wrist-worn health trackers, affirming they do not need to be regulated like medical devices.
Kennedy’s 2025 promotion of wearables “handed the category a tailwind”, said Mike Collett, managing partner at Promus Ventures, a Chicago-based investment firm that holds stakes in manufacturer Whoop and Definium Therapeutics, which is developing psychedelics. Whoop declined to comment.
“The Maha label is yet another political slogan, although one I hope will have a long shelf life,” Collett said.
Maha-aligned businesses are drawing investment interest from Finn Kennedy, one of Kennedy’s sons. Earlier this year, Finn Kennedy sought to raise $100mn for an investment fund targeting Maha businesses in healthcare, AI, consumer health and other health technologies.
It is unclear how much he has raised for the fund, Victura Ventures, named for a sailboat owned by his great-uncle, former president John F Kennedy. Finn Kennedy did not respond to requests for comment.
Maha Holdings organised the November summit, attended by Kennedy, vice-president JD Vance and other officials. Finn Kennedy is listed as a board member. Maha Holdings is planning another event in September and has approached companies about participating, according to two groups that received overtures.
Tony Lyons, president of the Maha Action political fund, said: “We will bring together scientists, innovators, activists and government officials to a conversation that’s been censored at the expense of the kind of health outcomes that the American people have a right to expect.”
The health department said “regulatory decisions are made independently” of Maha.
For peptides, the FDA has warned the drugs considered at the meeting do not have clear health benefits. For BPC-157, known as the “wolverine drug” for its purported ability to heal injuries and reduce inflammation, the agency said research “weighs against” broadening the drug to more people.
“There is insufficient clinical safety information to characterise the safety profile of BPC-157,” FDA staffers said in materials posted on its website before the meeting.
Despite the concerns, healthcare companies are considering peptides as a new market. Telehealth company Hims acquired a peptide-manufacturing facility last year.
“We are very excited about peptides, at the same time we are going to await final guidance from the FDA,” Anant Vinjamoori, Hims’s chief medical officer, said in an interview. “We are starting to build the infrastructure.”
Consumers are buying popular peptides through the grey market, and pharmacy companies maintain a clearer framework would improve safety by shifting production to FDA-regulated facilities.
“We would happily take on the task and be regulated and do this right,” said Joshua Fritzler, president of Olympia Pharmaceuticals.
Olympia contributed $100,000 to the Maha political action committee last year and the company’s chief executive Mark Mikhael gave $25,000 in May, according to federal disclosures.
“I think health and wellness crosses the boundaries of political parties,” Fritzler said.
Jon Lensing, chief executive and founder of telehealth business OpenLoop, another pharmacy business eyeing the peptides market, has contracted with Enhanced Group. Lensing spoke alongside Fritzler at the Maha event.
“The administration, the Health and Human Services Department in particular, is doing what we want them to do,” Lensing said. “It would be a disservice to the American public not to.”