Pandia Health Revolutionizes Birth Control
As Telehealth becomes increasingly popular due to COVID-19, Pandia Health has been working to ensure the safest and most effective birth control can be delivered to the doorsteps of people across the United States.
Dr. Sofia Yen poses with condoms and other Pandia Health giveaways while tabling at an outdoor event. Dr. Yen is the CEO and Co-founder of Pandia Health with a mission is to ensure that the safest and most effective birth control be delivered to the doorsteps of people across the United States. (Photo courtesy of Pandia Health)
Founded in 2014, Pandia Health is easy to use. For those who already have a prescription for a certain birth control, all they would need to do is send it over to the Pandia doctors, who then send it to the Pandia Health pharmacy. It is then delivered right to your doorstep.
If those who wish to sign up don't already have a prescription they can go onto their website and fill out a health form; one of their doctors will look over their information, find a prescription for you, and have it delivered for a $20 co-pay. A prescription for any birth control is free with insurance and $15 a pack without.
Dr. Sophia Yen serves as the CEO and Co-founder of Pandia Health. She graduated from MIT, UCSF Medical School, and UC Berkeley with a Master of Public Health in Maternal Child Health. Yen currently works as an Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Adolescent Medicine at Stanford Medical School.
Dr. Yen stresses that it is important to know who your online doctors really are, especially when it comes to reproductive health. Pandia Health is made up of nine certified doctors, all of them are listed on the website, along with their credentials.
“We are the only women-founded, women-led, doctor-led company in this space,” said Yen, “and I think as more people go into telemedicine it's really important to look at who is the CEO of the company, who is the founder, and what their values are, choose the one that's founded by a woman who actually understands the situation."
Along with founding Pandia Health, Dr. Yen has a Ted Talk on what she calls — #PeriodsOptional. Yen believes that people with uteruses should not have to suffer from as many menstrual periods in their life as they currently do, and by cutting back the number of periods people will be less vulnerable to certain health issues. This can be achieved by using birth control to alter the menstrual cycle, making life easier for people all over the world, and creating less waste in landfills.
The recent nomination of the conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett into the Supreme Court has left many people worried about the future of reproductive health in the United States. Dr. Yen is concerned about the strict abortion laws that are being pushed in certain states across the country.
“They passed a lot of crazy stuff in very conservative states taking away abortion rights so if you're leaving California, you better get your birth control all together,” said Dr. Yen.
Pandia Health is able to send birth control to any state in the U.S. However, their online doctors can only write prescriptions in California, Texas, Arizona, and Wyoming. They plan to expand as the company gets more revenue. If clients live in states other than these four, they can still get their prescription delivered. However they must have a pre-existing prescription or obtain one from their own doctor in the state in which they reside.
