Axena Health, UpScriptHealth partner on telehealth service for women

Axena Health, which makes a digital therapeutic for women's pelvic health, has partnered with the direct-to-consumer telehealth company UpScriptHealth to offer consultation and treatment to women suffering from urinary incontinence symptoms.

Axena's Leva Pelvic Health System aids in pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT), which is a first-line treatment that can be completed at home.

The system is an FDA-cleared, intravaginal device with motion sensors that helps women perform PFMT to mixed, mild-to-moderate-urgency urinary incontinence and chronic fecal incontinence.

Women can use it at home for five minutes daily over eight to twelve weeks. To access the system, women complete a medical history questionnaire and have an online consultation with an UpScriptHealth provider for a prescription.

The Leva Women’s Center will then discuss insurance and costs, with no obligation to proceed with treatment.

UpScriptHealth has been Axena's pharmacy distributor for the Leva system since March 2023.

"It has been a wonderful partner as we’ve scaled the business, so they were an easy choice when we decided to launch a telehealth platform," Jim O’Connor, interim CEO of Axena Health, told MobiHealthNews via email.

He said telehealth is a critical multiplier given the growing shortage of OB-GYNs.

"The Leva Pelvic Health System is a prescription medical device, in part, because a woman’s healthcare provider should remain involved in her bladder leakage treatment," O'Connor said. "However, obtaining a prescription should not be a barrier to care."

He noted that, especially in more remote locations, it can be challenging for patients to find a convenient time to meet with their OB-GYN.

"Our telehealth offering through UpScriptHealth for the Leva Pelvic Health System enables greater access to care," he said. "Because women can track their bladder leakage symptoms using the Leva System, it allows them to keep their regular healthcare provider involved in their care."

THE LARGER TREND

A 2022 study published in Urogynecology, the official journal of the American Urogynecologic Society, showed that 28 million women in the U.S. have moderate to severe bladder leakage (urinary incontinence).

Axena Health acquired its Leva Pelvic Health System from Renovia, which developed and commercialized Leva before it shut down in 2022.

Last year, Axena Health raised $25 million in Series A funding, which the company used to help support and expand access to its pelvic floor digital therapeutic. 

In 2022, UpScriptHealth announced a collaboration with Eversana, which provides various services to the life sciences industry. The partners launched a direct-to-patient platform to help accelerate access to therapies globally.

Another company offering female pelvic health products is SWORD Health, which launched Bloom in 2022, a women's physical therapy product focused on pelvic health and pain.