Telehealth firms spark surge in perimenopause hormone therapy amid regulatory shift
A wave of digital clinics is rapidly expanding access to hormone therapy for perimenopausal women after the FDA dropped black-box warnings, prompting both market growth and concerns over over-prescription.
After the FDA eliminated black-box warnings on hormone therapy, telemedicine companies targeting midlife women have experienced a massive influx of patients, with SimilarWeb reporting a 490 % rise in traffic to four leading sites between 2023 and 2026. Lisa Schrenk, a federal IT worker, credits a switch from oral contraceptives to bioidentical hormones via the startup Midi with rescuing her from suicidal thoughts. The boom has spurred supply constraints for estrogen patches and progesterone, as younger users stay on therapy longer.
Critics such as Mayo Clinic’s Stephanie Faubion and OB-GYN Jen Gunter caution that the industry’s broad symptom list and aggressive digital advertising risk medical overuse. Meanwhile, founders like Midi’s Joanna Strober and former ARPA-H director Alicia Jackson promote early treatment for longevity, despite ongoing debates about safety and the role of venture capital in shaping women's health care.
Why it matters
The shift reshapes how millions of women receive hormone treatment, affecting health outcomes, drug supply and the future of telemedicine.
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