Akili cuts about 30% of staff in effort to be ‘extremely lean’

Akili Interactive is axing about a third of its workforce, the company revealed last week, while reorganizing the pipeline around its FDA-cleared video game for attention deficit hyper activity disorder (ADHD).

Eddie Martucci

CEO Eddie Martucci said in an internal message to employees on Jan. 12 that Akili’s executive team has come to the “necessary but difficult decision” to say goodbye to 46 staffers. Those affected have been notified, and all layoffs will take place by the end of the quarter, according to an SEC filing.

“I wish that we had a more efficient footprint so that this action would be less dramatic, but the truth is that we are just not as lean as we can be, and for that I apologize,” he wrote.

In 2020, EndeavorRx became the first video game to win FDA authorization as a mental health treatment. The game is cleared for kids 8 to 12 years old, and is designed to improve patients’ attention as they zoom through icy waters and target flying creatures on the planet Frigidus. However, insurers have been slow to cover EndeavorRx and other digital therapeutics.

In addition to the cuts, Akili is holding off on a handful of programs beyond ADHD, such as attention in autism spectrum disorder and cognitive dysfunction associated with multiple sclerosis and major depressive disorder, according to the filing. The company will continue with investigator-initiated studies, and is “assessing various potential ways” to pursue those other indications, including partnerships.

Two “Covid Fog” studies being conducted by outside institutions should produce topline data in the first half of this year, the company added.

As for ADHD, Akili will look to add more patient groups to EndeavorRx’s label, including kids 13 to 17 years old, for which an FDA submission is expected this year. In adults, Akili is stopping enrollment early and analyzing data ahead of schedule, after recruitment was progressing “more slowly than anticipated,” the filing stated.

Martucci said affected employees will be offered at least two months’ salary and “additional compensation in recognition of employee contributions,” costing the company a total of $1.5 to $2.5 million, according to the filing. The changes are expected to extend the company’s cash runway to 2025.

“In recent months, the economic environment has dramatically shifted. As a result, there is pressure on all companies (no matter where they are in their stage of growth) to be extremely lean and operate as efficiently as possible toward profitable growth. While EndeavorRx is gaining traction, we still must reduce our spending in response to the new realities of the world around us,” Martucci wrote.

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