Treat cold sores at home

Consultation
Anyone who requests herpes treatment will be charged a $30 consultation fee. Please note that at this time, we do not submit claims to insurance for the medical consult fee.

Medication
For those paying with insurance: We will bill your insurance directly for your medication and the price to you will depend on the specifics of your plan. Please connect with your insurance company if you would like to learn more about your copay.
For those paying without insurance: Medication costs $45 for a 3-month supply of outbreak treatment (meaning you only take the medication when you experience an outbreak or feel one coming on). It costs $75 for a 3-month supply of preventive therapy (meaning that you take a pill every day to prevent outbreaks). If you have both oral and genital herpes and need outbreak treatment, the price will be $60 for a 3-month supply.

Support Fee
Nurx will charge a flat $3 support fee each month one or more of your orders are processed. This fee covers your unlimited, on-demand access to our customer care team as well as certain processing fees. This fee will only be charged once in any month, even if you have multiple orders processed that month. This fee applies whether the order is filled through Nurx or at your local pharmacy. If your order is filled via Nurx, the support fee is billed at the time of fulfillment. If your prescription is sent to a local pharmacy, a support fee will be applied at that time. In the future, the support fee will be applied on a cadence that matches your medication refill cadence.

Yes, we accept most forms of private health insurance for medications. If you’d like to know if we accept your health insurance plan, please connect with our team at [email protected]. Please note that at this time, we do not submit claims to insurance for the medical consult fee.
Nurx does not accept any federal or state government insurance plans, such as Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, or any of their affiliated managed care plans, nor can Nurx service such patients. We recommend that you find a local provider in your community that participates in your government payer program.

We prescribe valacyclovir (the generic version of Valtrex), a pill which is the most effective medication for treating or preventing herpes outbreaks. When taken at the start of an oral herpes outbreak, valacyclovir will decrease the intensity of symptoms, decrease the duration of the outbreak, and reduce the risk of spreading herpes.

Valacyclovir may also be prescribed to be taken daily to prevent outbreaks. Taking valacyclovir daily for oral herpes prevention is an “off label” prescription, meaning the FDA has not approved the medication for this purpose, though it has approved this use for the prevention of genital herpes. It is entirely legal for healthcare providers to write off-label prescriptions if they conclude that it is safe and appropriate.

Valacyclovir is quite safe and generally has few side effects, but possible side effects include headaches, dizziness, depression, nausea, fatigue, vomiting, stomach pain, and joint pain.

We offer treatment to patients who have already been diagnosed with herpes by a healthcare provider or lab test. If you haven’t had a diagnosis but believe you may have herpes, we recommend that you see a local healthcare provider for evaluation the next time you have an outbreak. If you are diagnosed with oral herpes, our medical team would be more than happy to help manage your herpes treatment moving forward.

Nurx provides oral herpes treatment to patients in the states we are currently available in, except Washington where there are additional regulations.

We prescribe herpes treatment to patients age 13 and up, with the exception of patients in South Carolina, where we prescribe to patients 16 and up.

For outbreak treatment, patients take a valacyclovir pill at the first sign of an outbreak (when you experience tingling, itching, burning, or whatever your typical first symptoms are), then take a second pill later in the same day. When taken at the start of an oral herpes outbreak, valacyclovir will decrease the intensity of symptoms, decrease the duration of the outbreak, and reduce the chances of spreading herpes to others.

Patients who experience more frequent outbreaks (usually more than six per year) may choose to take valacyclovir daily as preventive treatment, which can suppress oral herpes outbreaks by up to 80%. Taking valacyclovir daily also decreases the chances that you will transmit herpes to others. Daily valacyclovir therapy is an FDA-approved treatment for genital herpes, but prescribing valacyclovir to be taken daily for oral herpes prevention is an “off label” prescription. It is legal for medical providers to write off-label prescriptions if they conclude that it is safe and appropriate.

The oral medication valacyclovir is an antiviral treatment for both types of herpes. Oral and genital herpes are caused by the two types of herpes virus: HSV-1 and HSV-2. Oral herpes is more often caused by HSV-1 infection, and genital herpes is associated with HSV-2 infection, but it is possible to have an oral infection with HSV-2 or a genital infection with HSV-1. In any of these cases, valacyclovir is very effective at preventing or treating outbreaks.

Although Nurx does not replace comprehensive prenatal care, we do prescribe and deliver oral herpes medication to pregnant women. Valacyclovir is safe for pregnant women and their unborn children. Both oral and genital herpes can pose serious risks for a newborn baby, so if you are infected with herpes it is important that you discuss these risks with your OB-GYN or midwife, who can advise you on the best way to protect your infant.

At this time, we only provide care in English. We are committed to creating an inclusive experience and are exploring options to expand language support in the future.