World Contraception Day: Meet Elizabeth Ruzzo, Founder & CEO at adyn
FemWealth Special Edition
Happy World Contraception Day!
In this special edition of FemWealth on the occasion of the annual World Contraception Day, meet Elizabeth Ruzzo, PhD, Founder & CEO at adyn, a US-based company helping people find birth control without side effects based on a person’s genetic risk and hormone profile.
📣 Call to action: In celebration of World Contraception Day, for every (2-question, 30-second) survey response, adyn will donate $10 to Power to Decide. It’s the easiest way to make an impact on World Contraception Day!
FW: Why did you launch adyn and what is the company’s mission?
ER: My motivation to create adyn originated from a combination of my professional experience working in academia and my own personal experience with birth control. In my academic career, I studied human genomics and precision medicine (PhD from Duke followed by a postdoc at UCLA). During my research, I repeatedly encountered knowledge gaps that hindered discovery for non-Europeans and females. Around the same time, my own symptoms from birth control were dismissed by medical professionals (more on that here). I decided to dedicate my expertise in precision medicine to closing gaps caused by historic inequities in medical research. I left academia to found adyn in 2019 and was accepted into the Y-Combinator startup accelerator in the summer of 2020.
There are 72.7M women of reproductive age in the US. 80.5% of these women have used hormonal contraception. Birth control side effects vary based on both drug formulation and individual biology. adyn’s technology leverages a patient’s medical background, genetics, and hormone levels to identify birth control methods that minimize risk of adverse side effects.
Our flagship product, The Birth Control Test, is the first and only test designed to prevent birth control side effects. With nearly 200 hormonal birth control products on the market in the US, each with a different side effect profile, we integrate genetic and endocrine testing with virtual medical care and at-home prescription delivery. Our goal is to not only help people select a safe and effective birth control, but also to change the standard of care to use evidence-based prescribing. Our mission more broadly is to make scientific discovery more inclusive.
FW: In the US, almost 20 million women live in contraceptive deserts. What role does adyn play in providing this demographic with access to reliable contraceptive methods?
ER: Contraceptive deserts are defined as areas without reasonable access to a full range of contraceptive methods. To make matters worse, many people living in contraceptive deserts are also living in states with some of the strictest abortion policies. adyn’s digital-first platform is able to serve 91.15% of people in contraceptive deserts (the remaining 8.85% live in NY/NJ/RI, where we are currently unable to operate due to regulatory restrictions). Our direct-to-consumer business model, virtual care services, and at-home prescription delivery lower the barrier of access to birth control and reproductive health experts that are severely lacking in these areas.
FW: What is ‘World Contraception Day’ and why is it important to observe it?
ER: World Contraception Day is observed every year on September 26. This holiday was created in 2007 with a vision to “ensure a world in which every pregnancy is wanted.” The day centers around driving awareness of the benefits of contraception, increasing access to contraception, and empowering young people to make informed choices about their reproductive health.
At adyn, we observe World Contraception Day for three reasons:
To celebrate and recognize the benefits of birth control: When prescribed accurately, birth control can have a range of impactful health benefits beyond preventing pregnancy: it can help regulate the menstrual cycle, alleviate cramps, PMS and anemia; clear up acne, and is often prescribed to help manage a range of other reproductive health conditions including PCOS and endometriosis. In fact, 70% of birth control users cite health benefits besides pregnancy prevention as a motivation for use.
To highlight the life-changing impact of consistent and reliable access to contraception: According to the UNFPA, only 57% of women are able to make their own decisions over their sexual and reproductive health. Teenage pregnancies reduce the chances that the mother will complete high school and increase the chances of both the mother and child living in poverty. The intergenerational impacts of birth control access are major too. Children born to mothers with access to federally funded birth control tend to have higher incomes in adulthood, and attend more years of school.
To educate and combat disinformation about birth control: we are living in a landscape of (d)evolving rights and unscientific information. It can be challenging to separate fact from fiction when it comes to reproductive health care. The UNFPA in their 2022 State of World Population report on the crisis of unintended pregnancy recently found that stigma outranks lack of access as the primary reason women do not use contraception globally. People urgently need medical professionals to combat misinformation and help them to understand the complex realities of accessing birth control. They can do so by taking advantage of the benefits of precision medicine, through tools like The Birth Control Test.
FW: How does adyn support World Contraception Day?
ER: adyn is partnering with Power to Decide, a nonprofit whose mission is to advance reproductive well-being for all, protect bodily autonomy, and provide the full range of contraceptive methods, without barriers or judgment.
We are running a 2-question survey about birth control (30 seconds of your time, tops!). For every entry, adyn will make a $10 donation to Power To Decide’s Contraceptive Equity Initiative which aims to expand research and policy efforts to support contraceptive access.
Take the survey and share with a friend! It’s the easiest way to take action on World Contraception Day and provide birth control to someone in need.
FW: Where can people find science-based, quality information on all the available contraceptive methods?
FW: adyn publishes a blog called Mind the Gap which is written in direct response to historic and persistent gaps in medical research. Readers can find scientifically fact-checked information about birth control, reproductive/sexual health, and health equity.
FW: What does it mean to apply precision medicine to birth control?
ER: Analyzing a person’s hormones, genetic makeup and other biological markers can and should inform medication choices. Our dynamic hormone ranges and genetic code are unique to each of us; it follows that birth control should not be one size fits all. A form of birth control that for one woman could worsen her acne, for another can alleviate it. Some of these differences, like the presence of thrombogenic mutations, can be the difference between life or death, and yet, these genetic risk factors aren’t routinely screened prior to prescribing contraceptives. Precision medicine can help medical providers capitalize on the life-changing benefits of birth control and avoid dangers for high risk patients.
Beyond birth control, moving towards precision medicine in reproductive health care can also alert physicians to potential problems down the road and improve the depth and accuracy of patient care overall.
FW: Where can readers learn more about adyn?
ER: Visit our website at adyn.com where you can subscribe to our newsletter, and follow us on social @adynhealth on all platforms!