Nurx, a San Francisco-based telemedicine startup offering birth control online, plans to launch in Iowa — after a recent report alleging company practices have put patients at risk through the handling of medication ordered in the app.
Nurx (pronounced nur-ex) sells prescription drugs online, including birth control, HIV PrEP, HPV home screenings and emergency contraception options, through partner pharmacies that deliver to the customer’s home. Users of the Nurx app are able to receive guidance from medical doctors through the app or order an existing prescription without an outside appointment.
In a blog post, Nurx said more than 170,000 women in Iowa live in “contraception deserts” without a nearby health clinic offering comprehensive birth control options.
Yet in an April report by the New York Times, former employees and patients of Nurx alleged the company regularly shipped prescribed medications that were returned or bounced in the mail to different Nurx customers, a practice generally banned by state or federal law; that executives of Nurx without medical licenses have tried to revise the company’s medical policies to loosen prescribing standards; and that patients have suffered life-threatening consequences as a result of hurried customer service by the app’s medical consultants.
Nurx recently hired a new chief executive, Varsha Rao, and said, “There are no excuses for mistakes made by our former leadership team,” the New York Times reported.