So far, not a lot of ups and downs this week….
What’s both a Ladder and a Chute?
Click Therapeutics put together a healthy Series D of $50 million to commercialize its digital therapeutic for the treatment of the experiential negative symptoms of schizophrenia. That’s a cheerful earful, except for the reported 27% of their employees who just got chuted with a pink slip. In the reported range of 100-250 employees, that means 27 to 67 employees being told ‘no work for you’ after bringing the company to the commercialization point. That is a deep cut.
Boehringer Ingelheim and Click jointly developed the digital technology, which received Breakthrough Device Designation by the FDA in 2024 as an investigational technology. It provides an an adjunct to standard antipsychotic therapy through interactive psychosocial intervention techniques.
With the $50 million funding, Boehringer turned over commercialization to Click. What is odd here is that companies with investigational tech and large partners usually keep the staff lean. Commercialization and funding then means that hires change from researchers to marketers, sales, and compliance, for a net gain. The next question is…when?
Austin Speier, chief strategy officer, commented to Behavioral Health Business: “While we are incredibly excited about the potential of CT-155, that shift means making hard changes to our team to match our new commercial mission. These were not decisions we made lightly, and we are deeply grateful to everyone who helped us reach this stage.” CT-155, as it is formally known, does not yet have FDA clearance. It has a Phase III study, CONVOKE (NCT05838625), a Phase III, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, 16-week study evaluating the efficacy and safety of CT-155 versus a digital control app. Neither the BHB and FierceBiotech articles nor Click’s release reveal a timeline for FDA clearance and marketing. Which means that final FDA approval may be more distant than the funding and turnover make it appear.
Indian RCM provider IKS Health seeks to add TruBridge’s RCM for $675 million. Talks are reportedly in an advanced stage with an all-cash offer funded by a $675 million debt facility from banks like Citi, Deutsche Bank, and JP Morgan. It covers both purchase price and refinances TruBridge’s existing debt. No formal offer has been tendered to TruBridge’s board or shareholders. Surprisingly, this has gained little notice in the US healthcare press.
TruBridge provides HIT, an EHR, and RCM for health systems and practices. It is both established from the late 1990s, when RCM was new, and fairly large–it serves 1,500 healthcare organizations and employs 3,500 people with revenue of $347 million. It IPO’d in 2002 as CPSI on Nasdaq, converting to TruBridge in 2024. IKS Health is HQ’d in Mumbai but has a US HQ in Texas. It has 13,350 employees and a global base of 600 clients. It’s public on the National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) and BSE Limited (BSE). In addition to RCM, it offers care coordination, risk and optimization, and utilization management tools for value-based care. Digital Health News (India)
Also in RCM, TELCOR is buying Sample Healthcare. Amount and transitions are undisclosed. Like TruBridge, TELCOR started in the late 1990s. It serves both hospital and independent labs’ RCM for billing plus point-of-care and laboratory data. It has a 57% market share in the US for point-of-care solutions and serves over 2,700 hospitals and laboratories. Sample will add an AI-driven workflow engine that will be marketed as a separate product. It received seed funding out of Y Combinator in 2024. It’s easy to determine that Sample is a tuck-in acquisition for TELCOR. TELCOR release.
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