LGBTQ+ telehealth company Folx says it will now offer monkeypox primary care visits for $59 — but no antiviral drugs yet

• Folx Health is expanding its telehealth offerings to provide monkeypox information for patients.
• The monkeypox appointments are part of the company's recently launched virtual primary care.

LGBTQ+ telehealth startup Folx Health will now be providing counseling, referral, and education services for monkeypox, a disease that is continuing to spread across the country. The company made the announcement in a press release on August 24.

Monkeypox is spread by direct contact, and rapid spread recently prompted the White House to declare it a public health emergency on August 4. Currently, the Centers for Disease Control estimate a total of more than 15,000 cases in the United States.

Monkeypox has hit the LGBTQ+ community hard, particularly men who have sex with men, fueling worries of stigma. A study from the New England Journal of Medicine found that from April 27th to June 24th, across 16 countries, 98% of cases were found in men who have sex with men. According to the CDC, about 65% of current cases are in Black and Latino people.

But monkeypox can infect anyone, regardless of gender, age, race, or sexual orientation.

There are few treatment options available for monkeypox, which can cause a rash, fatigue, fever, and severe pain.

Most people recover from monkeypox on their own without the need for hospitalization. Treatment for monkeypox is usually supportive care, though Tecovirimat (also known as TPOXX) an antiviral used against certain poxviruses, may be used as well. There is one vaccine approved to prevent monkeypox, called Jynneos, but there is currently a shortage due to the intense demand.

Boston-based Folx was launched in 2020 with a mission to provide telehealth services specifically catered to the needs of the LGBTQ+ community. In the press release, the company said that it aims to become the "ultimate resource" for the monkeypox virus for the LGBTQ+ community, and that all of its clinicians have undergone monkeypox-specific training in the past month.

Folx cannot provide monkeypox treatment or vaccinations themselves, Folx CEO Liana Douillet Guzmán said in an interview, "but we do have the ability to provide consultations to folks give people information that they can trust and then provide referrals into care systems that can provide either the vaccine or the treatment."

Guzmán did say it was possible that Folx would be prescribing TPOXX in the future, though she did not give a timeline. For now, the company is able to prescribe pain relief medications for monkeypox lesions.

According to Guzmán, the virtual care visits cost $59. Folx is planning to accept insurance in the future, but "that will likely take some time." Currently, there is no financial assistance for Folx's monkeypox services.

Gúzman hopes that Folx's new monkeypox services will be able to help people who live in more remote or rural areas, not just those who live in urban areas that have more access to inclusive healthcare.

"There's a lot of folks in care deserts that don't have access to queer competent and affirming care. And so to be able to provide that care at scale, I think is really one of the things that differentiates us," she said.

To Gúzman, that also means care free of judgment or stigma.

"We're going to treat monkeypox the way we would treat any other illness. It is the same as strep throat or cancer, this is not a reflection of who you are. It is something that you have and we're going to help you through it."