truepila platform that helps other companies provide diagnostics, telehealth services and prescriptions has gone through its fourth layoff of the year.
Sources say the layoff impacted about 65% of existing staff in engineering, human resources, design, IT and finance teams. The layoff comes about two months after the latest round, which impacted about a third of the company, or 175 people.
One employee, who spoke to londonbusinessblog.com on condition of anonymity, said they were told their position was “no longer tenable due to economic factors” during a 1:1 conversation with leadership. There was talk of dismissal, but HR has not yet contacted the employee with further details.
“[The company said] it hoped there would be no layoffs after the August round,” the source said. “[Leadership said that] investors have made some requests to let the company extend its financial runway, so they made some tough choices, but we were now on good terms.”
A company-wide all hands, scheduled for this week earlier, has been postponed to next week, the source added.
In April, Truepill stopped prescribing ADHD drugs due to growing concerns about digital health. The service interruption impacted the employees of Truepill’s recently acquired adult ADHD treatment company, Ahead. According to reports, Truepill was the preferred pharmacy partner of Cerebral, which is under federal investigation amid claims that employees were pressured to prescribe drugs to customers.
In June, Sid Viswanathan confirmed that he has laid off an additional 15% of the workforce, affecting 150 people. Viswanathan said in a letter that the company was “focused on defining a new category in healthcare and increasing revenue,” but what was essential was for the company to operate “with a new level of financial discipline and prioritization, ensuring the longevity of Truepill for both our customers and our teams.”
In August, Truepill’s entire UK team was fired, as well as a significant portion of the virtual pharmacy platform’s product team, sources told londonbusinessblog.com. The data team was also affected, while the company’s diagnostic and telehealth components – its core services – will only receive light support going forward.
Today’s layoff affects a number of teams, including the tech support team who were tasked with taking up the work of the UK team after they were fired.
Truepill did not immediately respond to the request for comment.
Current and former Truepill employees can contact Natasha Mascarenhas at [email protected], or Signal, a secure messaging app, at (925) 271 0912.