Truepill, a digital health unicorn, makes a fourth round of layoffs in 2022 – TechCrunch

Truepill, a platform that helps other companies offer diagnostics, telehealth services and prescriptions, has gone through its fourth layoff of the year.

Sources say the layoff affected around 65% of existing staff across engineering, human resources, design, IT and finance teams. The layoff comes about two months after his last round, which affected about a third of the company, or 175 people.

One employee, who spoke to TechCrunch on condition of anonymity, said he was told his position was “no longer viable due to economic factors” during a 1:1 call with management. Severance pay was mentioned, but HR has yet to contact the employee with further details.

“[The company said] he hoped there would be no layoffs after the August round,” the source said. “[Leadership said that] investors made demands for the company to extend the financial trail so they made tough choices, but we were now on a solid footing.

A company-wide bare-knuckle meeting originally scheduled for this week has been pushed back to next week, the source added.

In April, Truepill halted ADHD drug prescriptions due to growing concerns about digital health. The service disruption impacted employees at Truepill’s recently acquired adult ADHD treatment company, Ahead. Reports say Truepill was the preferred pharmaceutical partner of Cerebral, which is under federal investigation amid allegations that employees felt pressured to prescribe drugs to customers.

In June, Viswanathan confirmed that it had laid off an additional 15% of its staff, affecting 150 people. Viswanathan said in a letter that the company was “focused on defining a new healthcare category and growing revenue,” but what was critical was that the company operate “with a new level of financial discipline and prioritization, ensuring the longevity of Truepill. both for our clients and for our teams.

In August, the entire UK Truepill team was made redundant, along with a significant part of the virtual pharmacy platform’s product team, sources told TechCrunch. The data team has also been impacted, while the company’s diagnostic and telehealth components – its core services – will receive only minor support going forward.

Today’s layoff impacts a number of teams, including the support engineering team who have been tasked with taking over work from the UK team after they were made redundant.

Truepill did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Current and former Truepill employees can contact Natasha Mascarenhas at natasha.m@techcrunch.com, or Signal, a secure messaging app, at (925) 271 0912.