Pandia Health Offers Stress-free Birth Control Services via Telemedicine
Wednesday, February 8, 2023 at 3:29AMArticle by Becky Fillinger, photos provided
Sophia Yen, MD, MPHA discussion with Pandia Health CEO and Co-Founder, Sophia Yen, MD, MPH
Pandia Health is the only women-founded, women-led and doctor-led birth control delivery service and their services are now available to Minnesotans. Pandia is on a mission to make women’s lives easier by bringing birth control to women wherever they have access to the internet and a mailbox. We talked to Sophia Yen, MD, MPH, co-founder and CEO, to learn more about the start-up and how to avail ourselves of their services.
Q: Your webpage states that you have a passion for “making women’s lives easier.” What led you to this mission?
A: I gave a talk to physicians on how to prescribe birth control and the question came up, "Why don’t women take their birth control?”. One of the top reasons why women don’t take their birth control is they don’t have it on hand. They don’t have time to run to the pharmacy every month for 30 years non-stop to get the medication. I coined the term “pill anxiety,” which is the subliminal worry in the back of your head each month that you need to get to the pharmacy and get your birth control pills before you run out and the fear/stress of the risk of pregnancy or bleeding when you don’t want to bleed.
My friend, Perla Ni, and I thought, “We can solve this. We’ll just ship women birth control and keep shipping it until they tell us to stop.” Some of our mottos are: “Never run out of birth control on our watch,” "Set it and forget it. Let Pandia Health worry, so you don’t have to.” and “Get Pandia Health peace of mind."
Then, we ran ads for “free birth control delivery.” 60% of those who responded didn’t have a prescription. Since I’m a doctor, I already write prescriptions, so we added synchronous telemedicine to serve those people.
Q: Did you observe inequities or burdens on women in your healthcare practice?
A: Yes. Women subliminally suffer from “pill anxiety” described earlier. Women are stuck to their pharmacy each month by prescribers that don’t realize you can write a year’s supply and the pharmacy can restrict what they dispense to whatever the insurance allows but the pharmacy cannot expand the prescription. Meaning, if you write for one pack with 12 refills, the patient has to go to the pharmacy each month. We need to teach prescribers to write for 13 packs or 17 packs (if you are skipping the bleeding weeks).
Q: Why the name Pandia Health?
A: Pandia is the Greek Goddess of healing, light, and full moon. We are about women’s empowerment, thus a goddess was a perfect fit for a name. Pandia also means Pan = every, día = day. So, we’ve got you covered every day.
Dr. Yen pitches Pandia Health startup at 2018 University of California Entrepreneurship Showcase.
Q: Pandia Health has raised a whopping $6.7 million to date from investors. Please tell us your business model and why you believe investors are attracted to your startup?
A: We make money just like other pharmacies. The difference between what the insurance pays and what we can get the medication for, minus our overhead. We also have telemedicine and have the potential for affiliate income and “marketing the box.” We have a box going to women aged 18-50’s mailbox each month. Any Consumer-Packaged Goods company would be smart to partner with us to get in front of our audience with our recession-proof subscriptions.
Telemedicine 1.0 was cheap and fast. Telemedicine 2.0 will be about quality, expertise, and trust. As the only doctor-led, the only women-founded and women-led birth control delivery company, we are building “The Online Health Brand Women Trust" - starting with birth control and acne. We’re just getting started!
Investors are attracted because I built this business for the long game and they see the benefit of better care by better doctors. We want to be your friend from your first period throughout your life.
Using my MIT, UCSF and Stanford brain, I came up with an algorithm to minimize the chance of side effects when a woman starts the birth control pill. We have an 82% retention at a year vs. 55% for new birth control users. Our doctors are trained on how to tailor their birth control prescription to minimize side effects.
Q: Has Pandia Health faced any backlash from conservative politicians who may not believe in stress-free access to birth control?
A: No. Birth control prevents unplanned pregnancies and thus abortion. Birth control is used to treat painful or heavy periods, which is the number one cause of missed school and work for those with uteri under the age of 25.
Q: Will you have a business location in Minnesota, or are all healthcare appointments conducted via teleconference?
A: All our services are currently via asynchronous telemedicine. In the future, we may expand to video/phone. There are no plans to go brick-and-mortar at this time. Both our patients and doctors enjoy the flexibility of telemedicine. “Skip the trip” to the doctor’s office. Take the appointment from wherever you have internet. Fill out the health questionnaire 24/7 whenever you have time to do it and on your terms.
Q: Can you describe what process was completed by Pandia to do business in Minnesota?
A: Sure, here is the process we used:
Q: How may we invest in Pandia Health?A: We have an AngelList Roll Up Vehicle for those accredited investors starting at $1,000. For those who can invest $500,000 or more, reach out to me directly! You can also invest via a Donor Advised Fund (DAF), a tax-deductible mechanism.
Otherwise, we ask that you follow us on social and spread the word!
