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By: Michael L. Diamond | Asbury Park Press
Date: July 26th, 2024
RED BANK – Lara Glassman was miserable.
Pregnant during the pandemic with her first child, she battled a constant wave of morning sickness that was so severe that when she was considering two years later whether to have another child, she nearly decided she couldn’t go through the experience again.
“It was hell,” Glassman, 39, of Allenhurst, said of the first pregnancy.
Now 14 weeks into her second pregnancy, Glassman has found help. She is visiting Harmonia Healthcare, a startup company that opened on Front Street this spring to treat women with hyperemesis gravidarum, a severe form of morning sickness that produces persistent nausea and vomiting.
Co-founded by Rumson resident Kristen Williams, New York-based Harmonia hopes to keep pregnant women hydrated and healthy with IV infusions and emotional support, preventing frequent emergency room visits and trauma that comes with the illness.
The Red Bank office opens as health researchers sound an alarm. A report recently released by The Commonwealth Fund found the life expectancy of an American woman is at its lowest level since 2006. The research group provided a state-by-state analysis of outcomes, quality and access for women, and it ranked New Jersey 19th nationwide.
“Women’s health is in a fragile place, with health care systems in many states struggling to provide comprehensive health care to women across their lifespan,” said Sara Collins, a vice president at The Commonwealth Fund.
Harmonia’s Red Bank office is its first. The company focuses on women who have severe morning sickness, a condition that is seen in 14% of all pregnancies and has left women turning to Google and Reddit chats searching for answers.
Hyperemesis gravidarum, or HG, is rarer. It is seen in 1% to 3% of pregnancies and can cause women to lose weight, become dehydrated, and drop out of the labor force. Upwards of one-third of pregnancies among women with the condition result in premature delivery, miscarriage, still birth or termination, the company said.
Dr. Robyn Glessner, an emergency room physician who joined Harmonia, said common treatments for HG aren’t always effective. So she and nurses there create individual plans that can include IV treatments and emotional support.
Harmonia has applied to get private insurers and Medicaid to cover the treatments. For now, it costs between $300 and $500 a visit.
“The goal is to keep them functioning, keep them hydrated, keep the vitamin levels goods for the baby’s development and for the mother’s health,” Glessner said.
Harmonia was co-founded by Williams, 43, a Middletown High School South graduate who joined an investment firm that focused on the life sciences industry. After the company was sold, she took time off, only to rejoin a former colleague in a new investment company, Emerald Bioventures, hoping to work on projects that would improve women’s health.
The firm homed in on treating severe morning sickness, partnering with influential experts: Dr. Andrew Housholder, the founder of The Morning Sickness Clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, which has used infusion treatments to reduce emergency room visits among his patients by 95%; and Marlena Fejzo, a California geneticist who was diagnosed with HG and has zeroed in on a gene that could predispose women to the condition.
“Once you cross into (HG) … you are compromised, your health is being compromised,” Williams said. “The goal is to keep the super severe patients as functioning and as well as we can.”
Harmonia appears to be stepping into a health care specialty that could use help. While New Jersey has one of the nation’s lowest rates of infant mortality, it lags in other categories. For example, its rate of maternal deaths while pregnant or shortly after termination ranks 23rd nationwide; and its rate of pregnant women who begin maternity care during the first trimester ranks 36th, according to The Commonwealth Fund.
For now, there are obstacles to Harmonia’s care. Its cost can be out of reach for low- and middle-income families, at least until insurers cover the treatment.
Glassman said she looked as if she had been through the ringer when she walked into Harmonia’s office one recent day, but her disposition improved as she reclined in a chair, with a lollipop, ginger ale and an IV drip that was providing vitamins.
Her second pregnancy hasn’t been nausea-free, but it has been manageable, she said.
“I didn’t even think I was going to get to 14 weeks the first go-around because I was so miserable that first trimester,” Glassman said. “But having … the option to go in for extra vitamins and infusions has really made the experience a completely different one than the first time around.”
About Harmonia Healthcare
Harmonia is a highly specialized women’s health platform that combines cutting edge functional medicine treatment with science-backed resolution for underdiagnosed, undertreated and otherwise dismissed female-specific diseases. Initially focused on hyperemesis gravidarum, Harmonia’s physician-lead research, diagnostic and treatment programs result in superior health outcomes and subsequently enhanced wellbeing and quality of life.
For more information on Harmonia and hyperemesis gravidarum, or to learn if you might be suffering from hyperemesis gravidarum, visit www.harmoniahealthcare.com or connect with us on Instagram at @harmoniahealthcare.