A San Francisco telehealth startup is trying to help chronic seasonal allergy sufferers breathe more easily with customized nasal sprays, and the company has raised new funding.
Allermi was founded in 2021 by CEO Shani Bocian and her father, Robert Bocian, an associate professor of allergy-immunology at Stanford University who has been creating custom formulas for rhinitis and hay fever patients for three decades.
The elder Bocian began combining allergy medications after his wife asked about combining medications for her seasonal allergies when she was pregnant, Shani told me. Over time, his formulas garnered the nickname "Bocian's Potions."
Now with Allermi, it's the family business.
Shani left a career in education to co-found the company with her father, and they recently raised a $3.5 million seed round that was led by by Nelstone Ventures and also included FourSight Capital Partners. It brings the company's total funding to $4.8 million.
Growing up in Palo Alto, Shani was exposed to the entrepreneurial lifestyle from an early age and was connected to Stanford through her father, but starting a company from scratch was still a "puzzle" that had to be solved.
"Building an early-stage startup in the very beginning felt like trying to put a puzzle together but missing half the pieces," Shani said, "especially as someone who didn't have any business development or entrepreneurship experience in the past."
She also reached out other consumer telehealth founders for advice.
"There was a playbook" for this type of direct-to-consumer health service, Shani said, and the advice that other founders in the industry generously provided was "priceless."
The company now has six full-time employees on the operational side, as well as around 20 physicians that are licensed to provide telehealth services in all 50 states. They review intake questionnaires from patients to assess which types of allergy medications should be combined, or compounded, by Allermi's pharmacy partners.
They work with two drug compounding pharmacies, including Safeway Compounding Pharmacy in San Jose.
Allermi's physicians are also available for follow-up questions and patients can request changes to their formulas before their next refill ships.
Each custom formula contains up to four active ingredients that target histamine responses (itchiness and sneezing), congestion, runny noses and post-nasal drip, and inflammation and swelling.
Some of the medications Allermi uses in its formulas can also be obtained without a prescription, but the company changes the doses and combines them, which then requires a prescription, Shani said.
While long-term use of some types of decongestants can lead to "rebound congestion," Allermi cuts the dose down to a "tiny fraction" which makes it safe for daily use, Shani said.
Customers in all 50 states who are 18 and older can purchase a single nasal spray kit for $50, or sign up for a monthly subscription at just under $40. Most of Allermi's customers are concentrated in California, New York, Florida, Texas and Illinois, Shani told me.
Eventually, they want to expand the products Allermi offers and also treat additional types of allergies beyond hay fever and rhinitis.
"Some are ancillary products that are non-prescription that help ease symptoms in complement to a prescription nasal spray, and others are related conditions like eczema," which are inflammatory conditions that allergists often treat, Shani said.
The market for drugs to treat rhinitis reached $12 billion last year and is expected to grow to $16 billion by 2032, according to a report from Global Market Insights.
