Justin Schreiber Discusses the Recently Launched D2C Telehealth Model for Hormone Therapy

Shots:

Justin Schreiber, Chairman, and CEO of, LifeMD, in an illuminating conversation with PharmaShots, discusses the recent partnership with ASCEND Therapeutics
LifeMD, a virtual primary care company, and ASCEND Therapeutics, a leading women's health pharmaceutical company, came together to bring an integrated direct-to-consumer telehealth model to enhance the way women receive care for their menopause symptoms
While highlighting the prospects of LifeMD’s telemedicine platform, Justin shares his understanding of how the future of Virtual Primary Care looks like

Saurabh: Can we start with talking about the terms of the deal between LifeMD & ASCEND (such as deal size, upfront, milestone, royalties, and anything you can discuss)? 

Justin: While we’re unable to discuss specific terms of the deal, we’re most excited about the innovative nature of the partnership between LifeMD, a virtual primary care company, and ASCEND Therapeutics, a leading women's health pharmaceutical company, and how an integrated direct-to-consumer telehealth model will enhance the way women receive care for their menopause symptoms. Further, in working with a global market leader in the space, we are enthused by how a continued partnership can provide access to a broader set of men’s and women’s hormonal therapies. 

Saurabh: Why do you think ASCEND chose LifeMD and how will this partnership help elevate the outreach of the mentioned therapy?  

Justin: ASCEND was looking for a partner who could provide a digital front door to patients and selected LifeMD because of our scalable technology, proven medical track record, and expertise in consumer healthcare engagement. Additionally, we both share the goal of creating affordable and safe solutions accessible to any woman seeking quality menopause care. By providing patients access to a physician at the moment they are searching for treatment, as we have done with https://www.estrogel.com/get-estrogel/, together we are removing barriers to care and improving health outcomes by providing on-demand and ongoing access to high-quality primary care. 

Saurabh: Can we talk about the unique features of LifeMD's telemedicine platform? 

Justin: LifeMD's virtual primary care platform offers many unique features that differentiate it from others in the telehealth market. LifeMD is designed to provide convenient and accessible healthcare services to patients, ensuring a personalized experience. Most critically, this means access to quality physicians who patients can develop consistent relationships with, as they would any in-person provider. Other important elements of LifeMD’s platform include a flexible and proprietary technology stack proven to support complex virtual care at scale, seamless integration with electronic medical records, secure messaging capabilities, video consultations, prescription management, and patient-centric treatment plans.

Saurabh: Apart from Women’s Health, what are other therapy areas where LifeMD is working with other organizations to provide collaborative services like these deals?

Justin: LifeMD’s recently launched holistic weight loss program, as well as other chronic disease offerings – including cardiovascular health and diabetes management – are all areas where we plan to expand and collaborate with other organizations to maximize support for our patients. Specifically, we plan to execute strategic partnerships in the GLP-1 space, provide access to innovative chronic care offerings, as well as continue to build long-term partnerships with Life Sciences companies. Our end-to-end platform, performance marketing engine, and differentiating patient care philosophy has already provided a track record of success across areas such as sexual health, insomnia, dermatology, and hormone therapy, which has been attractive to organizations looking to collaborate with a telehealth partner. 

Saurabh: What are some new upcoming features being brought into the LifeMD telemedicine platform? 

Justin: We continuously enhance our telemedicine platform to meet the evolving needs of patients and healthcare providers. Upcoming features include expanded telemonitoring options and customized dashboards to support complex virtual care at scale, additional application programming interfaces (APIs) for partners looking to leverage our assets on behalf of direct-to-patient capabilities, and integration with wearable devices for remote patient monitoring. These advancements will further enhance the patient experience and enable more effective remote healthcare delivery.

Saurabh: Can you share your POV on the near term (i.e., 5 year) future of telemedicine/telecare for our readers?

Justin: The future of virtual primary care looks promising in the near term and beyond. Over the next five years, we anticipate significant growth in the adoption and utilization of telemedicine services, serving as a solution to many of the most notable challenges facing the U.S. healthcare system: timeliness, cost, access, and treatment of chronic conditions. The increasing use of advanced technologies, improved internet connectivity in rural areas, and the growing demand for primary care providers as brick-and-mortar physicians decline will drive the expansion of telemedicine. Specifically, virtual care platforms that can address unmet needs in primary care and specialized healthcare, as we are at LifeMD, can and will enhance access to care, improve patient outcomes, and provide greater efficiency in healthcare delivery.

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About the Author:

Justin Schreiber

As a co-founder of LifeMD, Justin Schreiber has played an essential role in the company’s formation, growth, and development. He has served as CEO and Chairman of the board of directors since 2018. Justin is an experienced venture investor, and the founder and president of JLS Ventures. He co-founded and currently serves on the board of Quantum Computing Inc. (OTCQB:QUBT), a technology leader for quantum-ready applications and software tools. He previously worked for a global healthcare consulting firm where he gained experience in operations design and effectiveness, efficiency improvements, and supply chain optimization. He began his career at Gain Capital Group, focused on foreign currency trading.

Justin holds a B.S. in International Business from Elizabethtown College and a B.A. in International Management from the ICN École de Management in Nancy, France.