Agile Therapeutics Partners With Telehealth Platforms To Expand Access To Weekly Birth Control Patch To Millions Of Women

This month, Agile Therapeutics, Inc. AGRX announced partnerships with FPA Women’s Health and vitaCare Prescription Services that will expand access to Twirla® (levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol) transdermal system, its low-dose weekly birth control patch. The news builds on earlier partnerships that have been steadily making the patch more available, including an agreement signed in August of last year making Twirla available on the Nurx telehealth platform. 

As expanded access across telehealth platforms and regional clinics helps push Agile closer to its $25-$30 million target net revenue for the year, it also expands access to a safe and effective birth control option.

Telehealth Platforms Help Fill Reproductive Healthcare Gaps In America’s Contraception Landscape

Nurx and other telehealth companies that Agile is adding to its growing roster of partners provide birth control prescriptions, emergency contraception and other basic healthcare services to patients nationwide. Being able to get prescriptions written by licensed healthcare professionals and then delivered is a convenient, time-saving option for many. 

But it can also be critical for patients who otherwise may not have access to affordable, reliable reproductive healthcare. More than 19 million women of reproductive age in the United States live in a contraceptive desert – a county with less than one health clinic offering publicly funded contraception per 1,000 women. Approximately 1.2 million of those women live in counties without any health center at all. 

For these patients, accessing birth control or emergency contraception can require hours of travel, taking time off work or paying for childcare while they go to their appointment – making the total cost of getting birth control a burden they might not be able to afford. 

Access to birth control provides far broader benefits to women and society as a whole. Teen pregnancies declined 75% between 1991 and 2019 in the United States, for example, and that’s driven in large part by increased effective use of contraceptives. Contraception has also prevented an estimated 272,000 maternal deaths worldwide. 

Outside of physical health, having access to birth control increases a woman’s chances of enrolling in college and their chances of graduating. Those who do choose to start a family when they’re ready are less likely to live in poverty, which, in turn, improves health, well-being and access to opportunities for their children. 

So platforms like Nurx give women the flexibility to schedule virtual doctor appointments that they can attend from the comfort of their own homes without having to take time off work or pay for childcare. Meanwhile, free shipping ensures that their birth control is affordable. 

Featured photo by Jornada Produtora on Unsplash.

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