Outro, a New York-based healthcare company focused on helping patients discontinue psychiatric medications, has raised $7 million across pre-seed and seed rounds to expand its deprescribing platform, grow its clinician network, develop AI-supported workflows, and expand into additional medication categories. The financing included participation from Listen Ventures, Cake Ventures, Jason Calacanis’s LAUNCH, Actions Capital, Hannah Grey Ventures, SemperVirens, Brock Recovery Group, and Pave Health Ventures, as well as additional investors.
Outro was co-founded by healthcare technology entrepreneur Brandon Goode and Dr. Mark Horowitz, a researcher focused on deprescribing psychiatric medications.
The company is building what it describes as an integrated deprescribing network designed to help people safely stop medications that may no longer be necessary, beginning with antidepressants.
Its flagship Taper Management program is currently available in 14 states.
Outro combines specially trained clinicians, evidence-informed tapering protocols, ongoing patient monitoring, psychosocial support, and technology designed specifically around medication discontinuation.
The company is initially addressing antidepressants, an area where it believes substantial gaps remain between how medications are prescribed and how patients are supported when they want to discontinue them.
According to Outro, approximately one in six Americans takes an antidepressant, and the average duration of use has exceeded five years.
The company contrasts that with the considerably shorter periods used in the studies supporting initial FDA approval of these medications and argues that healthcare systems have not developed comparably mature infrastructure around discontinuation.
Research cited by Outro from Horowitz found that four in five long-term antidepressant users were unable to stop because of withdrawal symptoms.
The company also said deprescribing remains largely absent from medical education and that existing guidance can leave clinicians and patients without enough practical support when navigating medication withdrawal.
Outro is seeking to address that problem by creating specialized clinical infrastructure around tapering.
Rather than treating discontinuation as a single prescription change, its model is designed around ongoing monitoring and individualized adjustment as patients progress through the tapering process.
The company believes this specialization is particularly important because medication discontinuation can involve substantial differences in patient response, withdrawal symptoms, treatment history, dosage, and other clinical factors.
Outro also sees the opportunity extending beyond antidepressants.
The $7 million financing will support expansion of its tapering model into additional drug classes, while funding growth of its clinician network and partnerships with universities and patient advocacy organizations.
The company also plans to expand its use of AI within deprescribing-specific clinical and administrative workflows.
Outro did not specify which additional medication categories it will address first or provide a timetable for entering those markets.
The company is also participating in research intended to improve the evidence base supporting medication discontinuation.
Its fundraising announcement comes as deprescribing receives greater attention from healthcare organizations and government agencies.
According to Outro, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has prioritized development of evidence-based deprescribing guidelines, working with organizations including the American Psychiatric Association and American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology.
Outro views those developments as evidence that medication discontinuation is becoming a more established component of longitudinal healthcare rather than a process patients are expected to navigate largely independently.
The company is particularly focused on improving access to clinicians experienced in tapering psychiatric medications.
Its platform combines those clinicians with software designed to track patient progress, support individualized tapering plans, and facilitate monitoring throughout the discontinuation process.
The latest investment will allow Outro to expand that infrastructure while continuing research partnerships intended to refine its clinical approach.
For investors, the opportunity centers on what Outro describes as a substantial gap in the mental healthcare system.
Listen Ventures estimates that approximately 50 million Americans take antidepressants, creating a potentially large population of people who may eventually want clinical support in evaluating whether and how to discontinue treatment.
Outro plans to use its antidepressant program as the foundation for a broader deprescribing platform capable of supporting patients and clinicians across multiple medication classes.
KEY QUOTES:
“Only a few years ago, it was considered taboo to even talk openly about mental health. Today, patients are asking a different question: if starting medication deserves support, why does stopping often happen without it? We’ve built the on-ramp for medications. Now it is time to build the off-ramp.”
Brandon Goode, Co-Founder and CEO of Outro
“With approximately 50 million Americans taking antidepressants, the lack of safe, effective, accessible ways to stop remains an overlooked healthcare gap. At Listen, we invest by listening to consumers first, and we’re hearing a clear demand for patients to have more choice and clinical guidance in managing their medications. Outro is building the infrastructure, therapeutic options, and support for deprescribing, starting with antidepressants — a model we believe will become a standard part of modern healthcare.”
Ellen Wilcox, Partner at Listen Ventures
“Deprescribing guidance has existed in countries like the U.K. for years. Yet in America, where antidepressant use is widespread, tapering support is very hard to come by, so millions of patients are left without support when they are ready to come off. As someone personally impacted by a lack of tapering guidance, I am proud to be building a service to bridge this gap.”
Dr. Mark Horowitz, Co-Founder of Outro
