Prescription digital therapeutics company Pear Therapeutics (Nasdaq:PEAR) announced today that it is letting go of roughly 25 employees, representing 9% of its workforce.
The layoffs are part of an overall operations restructuring that the Boston-based company said will “narrow its near-term business focus and reduce its workforce due to the macroeconomic environment,” according to an SEC filing after market close.
Pear said in its Form 8-K that restructuring efforts will reduce operating expenses by roughly $28 million over the next 18 months, extending the company’s cash run. Severance payments and other costs related to the workforce reduction will result in a one-time charge of $900,000 in the present quarter.
BTIG analysts kept their Buy rating on PEAR shares after the news: “Given the challenging macroeconomic environment, we are not entirely surprised to see Pear take steps to preserve cash and extend its cash runway and believe it was prudent for management to prioritize commercial efforts,” said BTIG analysts Marie Thibault and Sam Eiber.
It’s earnings season, so there will likely be more details when Pear Therapeutics reports Q2 results.
PEAR shares were up slightly after market close on the news.
The company started publicly trading in December 2021 after completing a special purpose acquisition corporation (SPAC) deal.
