Miami Launch Runway makes it easy and cheap to get medications before you travel

By Doreen Hemlock

Getting sick while traveling can be a nightmare. So why not consult a doctor early, have the travel medications you need delivered to your home, and then take them on your trip?

That’s the idea behind a Miami-area startup, Runway Health. It has raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding from investors led by Parto Holdings, said founder and CEO Joshua Rome.

Launched in May, Runway is building a network of travel company partners to provide 24/7 consultation and medical services. Rome hopes that one day accessing its travel health services will be as easy as clicking a button next to your online flight or hotel reservation, just as you can now for travel insurance.

“At our core, we’re making it easier, more accessible and more affordable to buy prescription travel medications,” she said. “We’re looking to be the go-to source for travel health information, so we’re building country-by-country travel health guides to gather information on travel health needs.”

Rome started Runway with experience in the technology, pharmaceutical and travel industries. After earning a business degree at the University of Maryland, he worked in sales and digital publishing at software maker Adobe Systems. He then joined a family start-up called Patagonia Pharmaceuticals. An avid traveler, he next started a daily travel newsletter called CitiSpeak and soon opened his own boutique travel agency in part to serve the newsletter’s subscribers.

Then covid hit in 2020. The travel industry was largely paralyzed. Rome packed up his wife and newborn son from his home in New York to tour America and later spend time in Mexico and Portugal, running his newspaper and travel agency business remotely. Soon after, a close friend from New York joined the new Pareto Holdings office in Miami, and the Rome family chose to relocate to Miami as well.

It was during Covid that Rome realized the opportunity in travel health — and not just because she got sick in Mexico. The travel agency learned that its clients often asked about the health risks in their destinations, from malaria to altitude sickness. He often consulted various websites to find answers. He found that many Americans without health insurance are turning to brick-and-mortar “travel clinics” and paying up to $500 to get the prescription they need before a trip.

“I identified this gap in the travel industry, and that’s where Runway was born,” says Rome.

See a doctor for $30 per visit

Today, Runway offers an online chat with a doctor for $30 per trip. Depending on the products, customers can pay an additional $20 to $125 to have their prescriptions shipped to their home. Doctors now prescribe it for five types of travel sickness: motion sickness, insomnia, traveler’s diarrhea, malaria prophylaxis and altitude sickness. Runway works with a physician group and pharmacy to serve customers exclusively in the US. Customers range from young honeymooners to retirees, from people taking African safaris to people hiking the Rocky Mountains, Rome says.

To grow the business, Runway Seven employs a team of seven, including locations in California, New York and South America. CEO Rome holds a desk at the Life Time Coral Gables co-working space. He is focused on building contacts in the travel industry to provide Runway services. To date, the group has signed up 35-plus tour operators and other travel providers in its partner network. Partners earn a commission on sales they bring to Runway and benefit from the venture’s travel health guidelines, he said.

Longer term, Rome wants to add drugs and expand Runway into Canada. In the meantime, the 36-year-old wants to stay involved with Miami’s tech community and explore beyond the 60 countries he’s visited. His advice to entrepreneurs and travelers: “You can’t be afraid to try and experiment.