Outro raised $7 million in seed funding to expand its platform for safely discontinuing psychiatric medications, addressing a major mental health care gap. Approximately 1 in 6 Americans take antidepressants, yet research shows 80% of long-term users struggle to stop due to withdrawal symptoms. Founded by Brandon Goode and Dr. Mark Horowitz, Outro utilizes hyperbolic tapering and custom dosing to help patients off-board drugs, with plans to expand into benzodiazepines and GLP-1s.
Outro's $7 million funding round
- ▪Investors participating in Outro's $7 million funding round include Listen Ventures, Cake Ventures, Jason Calacanis’s LAUNCH, Actions Capital, Hannah Grey VC, SemperVirens, Brock Recovery Group, and Pave Health Ventures.
- ▪Outro announced on October 9, 2026, that it raised $7 million in combined pre-seed and seed round funding.
- ▪Outro plans to use its $7 million in capital to expand its network of deprescribing clinicians and develop artificial intelligence clinical decision support tools.
Outro's operations and expansion
- ▪Outro's flagship Taper Management program for psychiatric medication deprescribing is available in 14 U.S. states.
- ▪Outro plans to expand its tapering model into additional medication classes beyond antidepressants, including benzodiazepines, gabapentinoids, and GLP-1s.
- ▪Outro was co-founded by health technology entrepreneur Brandon Goode and psychiatric researcher Dr. Mark Horowitz, with headquarters in New York.
Hyperbolic tapering methodology
- ▪Outro co-founder Dr. Mark Horowitz helped create the hyperbolic tapering method on which the company's platform is based.
- ▪Outro's deprescribing platform incorporates personalized hyperbolic tapering plans, compounded medication doses, patient monitoring, and specially-trained clinicians.
- ▪Hyperbolic tapering is a methodology that gradually reduces medication dosage by progressively smaller amounts as the overall dose decreases.
Antidepressant usage and clinical gaps
- ▪Approximately one in six Americans take an antidepressant medication, and average duration of use has surpassed five years.
- ▪Deprescribing protocols are largely absent from U.S. medical training, leaving clinicians and patients without formal guidance for stopping psychiatric medications.
- ▪Antidepressant medications were originally approved by the FDA based on 8-to-12-week clinical studies despite widespread long-term usage.
- ▪Research led by Dr. Mark Horowitz found that four in five long-term antidepressant users were unable to stop taking their medications due to withdrawal symptoms.
HHS deprescribing initiatives
- ▪The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is collaborating with the American Psychiatric Association and the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology on deprescribing standards.
- ▪In 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services prioritized developing evidence-based deprescribing guidelines to curb psychiatric overprescribing.
Debatable claims
- ▪Commercial digital platforms are suitable for managing complex psychiatric drug withdrawal
- ▪FDA approval standards based on short-term trials adequately protect long-term antidepressant users
- ▪Hyperbolic tapering is the most effective protocol for discontinuing psychiatric medications
- ▪U.S. healthcare providers should prioritize deprescribing over long-term psychiatric medication maintenance
Story comments
Loading comments…