Finale Of "Uncontrolled Substances" Podcast

We know from recent experience what happens when someone or some entity claims to have a novel solution that is “groundbreaking.” Think Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, where she claimed to have developed a blood test that used surprisingly small volumes of blood, such as a fingerprick. Holmes will begin serving an 11-year sentence jail sentence next spring and her partner, Ramesh Balwani, was just sentenced to 13 years in prison.

That’s the through line to “Uncontrolled Substances: The Cerebral Story” — examining the story of how a buzzy Silicon Valley start-up, Cerebral, tried to fix the mental healthcare industry and how it spun out of control.

The Journal, a podcast from the Wall Street Journal and Gimlet, has just released the fourth and final episode of the special miniseries. Hosted by Kate Linebaugh and Ryan Knutson. The Journal is a co-production from Gimlet Media and The Wall Street Journal.

In The Journal’s four-episode miniseries, listeners heard stories from former employees, investors, and patients’ families about the decision to begin prescribing controlled substances, especially Adderall, and explore some of the fallout as the company pushed to grow bigger even as medical providers say they were concerned.

In just a couple of years, the company attracted thousands of patients, raised hundreds of millions of dollars and partnered with star Olympic gymnast Simone Biles. But some people who worked at Cerebral say that, along the way, the company’s focus on growth interfered with patient care.

And now, Cerebral is under federal investigation. Cerebral says it provided high-quality care to thousands of patients who might not otherwise have had access. And now, Cerebral is under federal investigation.

Over the course of four episodes, The Journal unravels the story of a company where patient care took a back seat to growth, as reported by The Wall Street Journal’s Rolfe Winkler and Khadeeja Safdar.

In the final episode of the miniseries, debuting on December 23, Cerebral had become a star in the telemedicine business space two years after launching. The company had attracted tens of thousands of patients and was valued at close to five billion dollars. CEO Kyle Robertson had big plans for the startup, but this spring, those plans started to crumble. WSJ’s Rolfe Winker and Khadeeja Safdar started reporting on Cerebral, and their reporting would lead to federal investigations and major changes for the company.

Just this week, Superstar U.S. gymnast Simone Biles and Cerebral ended an endorsement partnership, bringing to a close a deal in which the 25-year-old Olympic champion used her own mental health experience to promote the controversial mental health startup.

Biles became Cerebral’s “chief impact officer” three months after her dramatic withdrawal from individual competition at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

The split between Biles and Cerebral comes seven months after the company received a subpoena from federal investigators over its prescribing practices of controlled substances, including the amphetamine Adderall and other stimulants used to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.

According to The Guardian, Cerebral’s nurse practitioners have said they felt pressured by the company to prescribe stimulants after a 30-minute evaluation. The major pharmacy chains CVS and Walmart later announced they would no longer fill the company’s prescriptions for controlled prescription drugs.

Listen to all four episodes of WSJ’s and Gimlet’s Uncontrolled Substances: The Cerebral Story here.

Here are links to the previous three episodes.

The Journal: Uncontrolled Substances, Part 1: Subscribe and Prescribe

- The Journal: Uncontrolled Substances, Part 2: Adderall

- The Journal: Uncontrolled Substances, Part 3: Anthony