San Francisco telemedicine firm Cerebral announced it is replacing its CEO and founder Kyle Robertson today amid heavy scrutiny on the company for allegedly overprescribing ADHD medication to patients online and a looming federal probe into the firm's business practices.
Robertson will be replaced by David Mou, the current president. and former chief medical officer in a decision made by the company's board of directors, according to a press release. Cerebral's former COO Jessica Muse will be promoted to the position of president.
“We thank Kyle for his service. His vision resulted in what Cerebral is today: a leading provider of urgently needed mental health services to people who were unable or unlikely to obtain treatment,” Mou said in the release. “The timing for his idea was fortuitous. When the pandemic struck, Cerebral became a lifeline for those in need of mental health services. Kyle led the company through the rapid growth that followed, helping hundreds of thousands of patients access effective and safe care. As Cerebral enters its next phase of growth, we look forward to expanding our services, guided as always by evidence-based clinical protocols, to help those who struggle with mental health concerns in silence.”
Cerebral, last valued at $4.8 billion, operates an online platform where patients can receive mental health services for conditions like anxiety and ADHD, and due to a rollback of federal regulations often prescribed controlled substances like Adderall. Earlier this month, the firm. said it would pause prescribing controlled substances to new patients, following media and government scrutiny.
The company received a subpoena by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York on May 4, while Business Insider reported that the Drug Enforcement Agency was speaking to current and former employees.
On top of that a former vice president of Cerebral sued the company alleging a number of ethical violations like a proposed plan by Mou to prescribe Adderall to all its ADHD patients.
According to Bloomberg which obtained a transcript of the board meeting where Robertson was ousted, Robertson said he would pursue legal avenues to defend himself and claimed he had messages between himself and Mou “discussing how we need to prescribe more and what we need to do vis-a-vis underprescribers.”
