Bicycle Well being, Albertsons companion to spice up entry to opioid use dysfunction injections

Digital opioid use dysfunction remedy firm Bicycle Health is partnering with grocery store chain Albertsons to permit the telehealth firm’s suppliers to prescribe buprenorphine month-to-month injections for opioid use dysfunction that may be stuffed inside Albertsons pharmacies throughout 17 states.  

Buprenorphine has been shown to reduce the risk of death after an opioid overdose. 

Bicycle Well being’s docs, doctor assistants and nurse practitioners will have the ability to prescribe the extended-release injections (often called Sublocade) as a substitute for buprenorphine/naloxone (Suboxone), which is an oral medicine taken day by day. 

Sufferers might be prescribed the medicine nearly by the corporate’s app and obtain the injection from an on-site pharmacist at one of many 700 collaborating Albertsons’ pharmacies.

“Growing entry to medicines for opioid use dysfunction (MOUD) is crucial to overcoming the nation’s opioid disaster. By increasing the provision of Sublocade to Albertsons Cos. pharmacies will assist shield the progress made throughout COVID and speed up utilization of MOUD by making new remedy choices obtainable,” Ankit Gupta, founder and CEO of Bicycle Well being, mentioned in a press release. 

THE LARGER TREND

Bicycle Well being has introduced a number of partnerships over the previous yr.

In February, Bicycle Health teamed with medical and psychological healthcare supplier Wellpath to supply digital opioid use dysfunction providers to people dwelling within the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ Residential Reentry Facilities.  

Final yr, the corporate partnered with emergency telehealth provider Tele911 to attach sufferers who skilled an overdose or have signs of opioid use dysfunction to Bicycle Well being suppliers after being evaluated by a Tele911 emergency doctor. 

The digital care firm has secured vital funding, together with $50 million in a Series B funding round final yr and $27 million in a Series A round in 2021.