Chase Feiger put his medical degree on hold in
2013 to start his first company, enterprise software maker Parsable. Seven
years later, he’s back in medicine with a new company, RxDefine, which lets big
pharmaceutical firms reach consumers directly, giving them an edge in a
fast-growing niche dominated by startups such as Hims. “We’re all about
minimizing friction for the consumer,” says Feiger.
An alumnus of the Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list for
Manufacturing in 2017, Feiger spent much of the last decade building Parsable,
which helped industrial companies improve productivity and built a $200 million
valuation, according to Pitchbook. Feiger stepped down from the San Francisco
startup in 2019. That same year, he finished his medical degree and cofounded
Santa Monica-based RxDefine with Parsable cofounder Ryan Junee and Ahmed
Elsayyad, whom Feiger met in medical school.
RxDefine provides telemedicine software that
lets consumers interact directly with doctors via customized apps and websites,
in collaboration with its pharmaceutical company customers. On February 15,
2020, it launched its first, Dermatology.com, with customer Bausch
Health. The site provides information about Bausch’s products for various skin
conditions, and gives patients an option to immediately connect with
physicians.
Feiger and his cofounders are targeting the
billions in ad dollars pharmaceutical companies spend every year just to
encourage patients to talk to their doctors—who then, presumably, recommend the
drug. Drug companies spend $6 billion a year for TV ads, according to the Journal
of the American Medical Association. This approach struck Feiger as
needlessly convoluted. “You’re wanting to buy a new TV, so you go to
BestBuy.com. And on the website, it says you have to go talk with your local
Best Buy sales rep in order to buy that TV,” he says.
Dermatology.com reduces this friction by
allowing patients to connect to RxDefine’s platform, which is operated by
medical providers who aren’t connected to Bausch. On the platform is a dynamic
questionnaire about their symptoms, which uses clinical protocols developed by
dermatologists. Those symptoms are then reviewed by doctors, who advise
patients on treatment options. The questionnaire does give patients the option
to see if they’re a good candidate for a particular medication (the virtual
equivalent of “talk to your doctor”), but that portion is optional.
If a doctor determines that a drug is the best
treatment for their patient, those drugs would be available for free home
delivery, or the prescription can be sent to the patients’ preferred pharmacy.
Although pharmaceutical companies are RxDefine's customers, Feiger emphasizes
that physicians won’t be incentivized to prescribe any drugs. RxDefine isn’t
incentivized, either. That said, Feiger believes that the ease of access to
doctors, combined with lower prices, will drive sales to patients more
efficiently than a TV ad. So do his customers.
“The platform was launched with a portfolio of
15 products, and we plan to expand the number of cash-pay products over time,”
Bausch Health CEO Joseph Papa said on an earnings call earlier this week. “We
believe that dermatology.com has the potential to meet patient needs and help
grow our dermatology business.”
The emphasis on providing the best patient
care is important to Feiger, since he has an M.D. degree himself. He emphasized
the importance to him and his cofounders that the company's customers are
aboveboard. “We emphasize regulatory compliance above all else,” he says. “We
have turned customers away who have asked us to do things we have not felt
comfortable doing.”
He and his cofounders have believers. The
company has raised $11.7 million so far with a valuation of $38.5 million,
according to Pitchbook. It’s already grown to 27 employees and is launching
more websites with other pharmaceutical partners in the coming months. Those
sites will focus on patient concerns such as women’s health, infectious disease
and primary care, and it’s working on real-time physician consultations as
well.
Despite the workload, Feiger doesn’t plan on
raising more capital anytime soon. “I think we have too much money,” he
laughed.
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