Jackie Rhind, CEO and Co-Founder of Ovry, in Newmarket, Ont., on July 5.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
Jackie Rhind remembers the experience of buying pregnancy tests as a teenager, awkwardly trying to conceal the bulky package she was toting and worrying she might run into someone she knew.
In university, Ms. Rhind, who has a blood clotting disorder that prevents her from taking most forms of hormonal birth control, said she discovered she could buy similar tests at the dollar store for less without having to compromise on accuracy. However, she was still frustrated by the cumbersome, excessive packaging and an average of only two tests a pack.
Convinced there had to be a better option, Ms. Rhind started surveying her friends and family, researching the industry and figuring out how to strip down the traditional test. Several years later, this led her to found Ovry, a reproductive health company that specializes in making tests that are more affordable, more discreet and produce less waste than competing brands.
“Ovry was really born out of my personal need, as well as a deep sense of frustration with the products that you could access on the market,” Ms. Rhind said.
When Ovry launched in 2020, it made $300,000 in annual sales. Since then, it has doubled its sales every year and grown from two to five employees. Run by Ms. Rhind from her home in Revelstoke, B.C., Ovry’s products are manufactured in Surrey, B.C., and sold at more than 3,000 retail locations across Canada, including Walmart, Rexall, Metro, London Drugs, Jean Coutu and Shoppers Drug Mart.
The company’s pregnancy tests, which resemble a litmus test from high-school science class, are one of three products it sells, alongside an ovulation test and male fertility test. Unlike a mid-stream pregnancy test, users of Ovry’s version collect a small amount of urine in a plastic cup that comes in each box and then dip the test into the urine for five to 10 seconds to see a result.
The tests can be bought in packs of four to 18 and, if bought online, will ship in unbranded shipping envelopes. They can detect pregnancy just as early as traditional tests, which is six days before a missed period, Ms. Rhind said.
The look and feel of pregnancy tests haven’t changed in decades and innovation is lacking in the industry, said Diana Wark, parent program co-ordinator at the Centre for Sexuality in Calgary, adding that being able to buy more than a couple of tests a package is a much-needed, practical approach.
Ovry products.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
Pregnancy tests are often marketed around a joyful surprise or flashy reveal, “instead of normalizing that women need pregnancy tests often throughout their lifespan,” Ms. Wark said.
“I think more often than not, women are using pregnancy tests not because they’re excited and happy about a potential pregnancy, but because they’re worried or scared about a potential pregnancy that they haven’t planned.”
Compared with other brands, Ovry’s test is made with 90 per cent less plastic, doesn’t include any digital features that generate electronic waste – and is discreet, Ms. Rhind said.
“We spent a lot of time having modern, largely recyclable packaging that doesn’t have babies on the boxes, which can be triggering for so many people.”
Ms. Rhind’s products are about half of the price of some of her competitors. On Shoppers Drug Mart’s website, a pack of two Clearblue or First Response tests costs $23.99 and one Life Brand test costs $12.49, while Ovry’s four-pack retails for $22.99. On Ovry’s website, it’s even slightly cheaper: Four tests cost $20, 10 cost $33 and 18 cost $42.
Ms. Rhind said she doesn’t have the marketing budget to compete with leading brands and it has been difficult to land her pregnancy test on the shelf.
While some retailers, such as Jean Coutu and Walmart, carry different-sized packs of Ovry’s pregnancy tests, Ms. Rhind said that’s not the case everywhere. With Shoppers Drug Mart, for example, Ovry only recently struck a deal to have its pregnancy test four-pack carried on a trial run in 300 of the pharmacy giant’s 1,200 stores. Ms. Rhind has yet to find out if the trial run will be expanded.
Meanwhile, her male fertility test, which faces little to no market competition, is for sale in all 1,200 Shoppers Drug Mart stores.
Dr. David Olson, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Alberta, said these difficulties extend into the wider pregnancy product industry. His own efforts to develop and commercialize a product that can predict when the delivery of a baby will occur have shown him how a lack of competition and investment in the industry makes new ideas hard to sell.
Despite the challenges, Ms. Rhind said she’s focused on expanding in-store sales and dreams of eventually turning Ovry into a first-of-its-kind reproductive health co-operative, in which customers could choose to become part owners of the business.
“Our mission was to take this kind of outdated category and make these important products more accessible to Canadians,” she said.