This makes these past few weeks a historic milestone for Teal Health! United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for their novel product, the Teal Wand. With this prescription device, women can self-collect safe, effective samples for cervical cancer screening in their own homes. On June 10th, Teal Wand will ship its first kits to California partners. This innovative, life-saving legislation will greatly increase access to this vital, preventive health screening.
The Teal Wand helps patients own their healthcare. Now, they can all the more conveniently gather their samples at home and ship them directly to CLIA-certified labs for testing. This highly groundbreaking method offers the equivalent quality of testing precision as in-person tests done at a practitioner’s business. This is a truly momentous advance. It’s released at a time when more than 1 in 4 women are already behind on their lifesaving cervical cancer screenings.
Kara Egan, the co-founder and CEO of Teal Health, is hopeful about the device’s potential. Her hope is that it can have a major positive impact on women’s health. Based in New York City, Egan emphasized the importance of cervical cancer screenings, stating, “Cervical cancer screenings are the most important and often the entry point to a woman’s health relationship.” As this statement attests, ensuring that women have access to lifesaving regular screenings is key to keeping women healthy overall.
Teal Wand will help solve the critical problem that so many women are under-screened. For millions of people, getting to a healthcare provider is a challenge. This portable device lives both as a life-saving screening tool and an access gap-bridger. Egan noted, “More than 1 in 4 women are currently behind on this life-saving screening.” By giving women a more convenient, discreet option, Teal Health wants to empower more women to take the time to invest in their health.
To Dominic-Madori Davis, senior VC and startup reporter at TechCrunch, that makes this specific approval all-the-more significant. She thinks it might be able to turn the whole world’s approach to cervical cancer screenings upside down. The convenience of self-collection could encourage more people to take part in screening programs, reaching more people and saving more lives.
