Last week saw a number of diagnostic testing startups, telehealth providers and others announce new services that would deliver at-home COVID-19 testing-kits to consumers. But the majority of these of offerings have since been rescinded or hang in doubt thanks to new warnings and regulatory clarifications issued this weekend by the FDA.
On Friday evening, the agency released an alert to consumers...
Editor's note: Since the publication of this story, the FDA has issued an alert warning that it "has not authorized any test that is available to purchase for testing yourself at home for COVID-19." Nurx and others have halted their at-home testing COVID-19 services in response: read the updated story here.
The shortage of coronavirus testing kits in the United States has quickly come to the...
Online reproductive health portal Nurx has raised $52 million in new capital. Its Series C funding accounts for $32 million of that total with an additional $20 million coming from debt financing, according to TechCrunch.The round led by Kleiner Perkins Digital Growth Fund and Union Square Ventures with participation from the Reproductive Health Investors Alliance, Dreamers VC (actor Will Smith’s...
Direct-to-consumer telemedicine services have attracted plenty of attention from investors and patients alike, due in part to their lower costs and ease of use. From a medical standpoint, however, these business models introduce a number of departures from traditional care that deserve serious concern and investigation, argue the authors of an editorial published Friday in JAMA.
“DTC telemedicine...
Nurx, the San Francisco-based startup best known for providing contraceptives via telemedicine, has just added a new home STI testing option to its slew of services.
The new offerings, which were first spotted by TechCrunch, will allow potential clients to fill out an online questionnaire to receive an STI test kit in the mail. The kit comes with instructions and tools.
There are three STI...
Even as Amazon ramps up its marketing efforts for PillPack, potential competitor Blink Health is hoping to get ahead with the announcement of three new hires — from Amazon.
Bharath Chinamanthur, Blink’s new EVP of engineering and operations, spent 11 years in leadership roles at Amazon. Christopher Plambeck, who joins as SVP of data sciences and monetization, spent five years at Amazon and...
Within the last decade, shopping for groceries, clothes and books has become a lot more virtual. The digital space is rapidly replacing brick and mortar stores for many customers. Now consumers are turning to the web for their health products—whether it is to get a pharmacy prescription, a urine test or an “embarrassing” sexual health product. Read on for three emerging trends in the digital mail...
Online and mobile platform Nurx, which uses telemedicine to connect rural patients to contraceptives, has raised $36 million in a Series B funding round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, with participation from Union Square Ventures, Y Combinator, and Lowercase Capital. MobiHealthNews alum Heather Mack broke the news for the Wall Street Journal.
In addition to the funding, the San...
App for ordering emergency contraceptives sparks controversy
A report yesterday from STAT details how Nurx, an app which allows users to obtain contraceptives, including morning-after pills Plan B and Ella, is getting pushback from legislators in conservative states. Users answer a few questions in an app, receive a prescription from a doctor, and then have the pills delivered in the mail. The...
San Francisco-based Nurx, a telehealth company that offers prescriptions for birth control and HIV-prevention medication Truvada through an app, has raised $5.3 million in Series A funding in a round led by Union Square Ventures. Lowercase Capital, SV Angel and six Y Combinator partners also contributed.
Nurx, which operates in California, Washington and New York, will use the funds to expand...
