Sexual health is not as controversial as it once was, but that does not imply everything in the world of STI testing is rainbows and unicorns. With at-home testing for vaginal-havers, TBD Health is trying a fresh new approach. The company provides a five-panel “check out” kit for in-house testing and just open a clinic Las Vegas, I met with the two co-founders to learn more about why at-home sexual health services needed. According to data provided in 2021 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, STI rates in the United States have continued to rise over the last several years, hitting a sixth consecutive all-time high.
An STI affects one out of every five people in the United States, with half of those affected being young adults aged 15 to 24, costing the country $16 billion in direct medical costs. To put it another way, TBD is pursuing a market that should be decreasing but is not. “We realized that screening access is critical, and that people today have less access than they did previously.” This is partly due to COVID – people do not want to go to the doctor’s office — and partly due to a lack of federal money. Starting with our at-home kit, we established this company to deliver empowering STI screening that fits with people’s daily schedules. TBD Health co-founder Stephanie Estey says, “We adopted a totally different approach than most other medical startups, so it doesn’t feel clinical or high-stakes.” “We wanted a viewing to feel like it was on your terms,” says the producer. We started a trial program in six states earlier this year.”
TBD Health’s at-home testing services are already accessible in Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Massachusetts, Florida, and Connecticut, with plans to expand to other states in the future. However, regulatory hurdles stand in the way of achieving complete 50-state coverage. “If someone tests positive, we can cure nearly everything,” says the doctor. Our clinician will schedule a time to go over your individualized care plan with you — this is not a basic “here’s a generic care plan you should follow while you figure it out with your provider” message. For the most part, the great majority of illnesses, such as those requiring antibiotics, are something for which we can obtain a prescription to ensure that you receive treatment,” Estey notes.
Of course, the clinician requirement necessitates a home base in each state where the team operates. “Each state has a medical team, so a doctor reviews all of the results, signs off on the lab request, and then processes the results or does the prescribing.” Right now, we’re in six states, but by 2022, we’ll be in a lot more.” The company claims to be able to test for all of the same STIs that your regular doctor can, but they rely on a self-collection methodology. A self-collect vaginal swab, a urine sample, and a blood sample are all included.
The latter caught my interest, as my thoughts immediately went to venipuncture draws — but it turns out that a finger-prick test may be done, with some blood falling on a collection card that can then be utilized by the team to run the assays and assess whether therapy is necessary. “We use a dried blood spot card,” says the narrator. It’s essentially a piece of paper with a few circles on it that you saturate with your blood using a finger prick lancet, similar to how diabetics test themselves on a daily basis. We can test you for all major blood-based STIs, including HIV and syphilis, using this card. It’s a wonderful tool; I believe it was created for testing babies in hospitals since drawing on a baby is difficult,” says Daphney Chen, co-founder of TBD Health. “Because it maintains stable throughout travel, it lends itself nicely to at-home testing.”
