Better Therapeutics appoints Frank Karbe as CEO

Better Therapeutics, Inc., a prescription digital therapeutics (PDT) company developing nutritional cognitive behavioral therapy (nCBT) to address the root causes of cardiometabolic diseases, today announced that Frank Karbe will join the company as President and Chief Executive Officer and serve as a member of the Board of Directors starting July 5th, 2022. Current CEO and company co-founder, Kevin Appelbaum, will continue to serve in that role until then.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Frank to the Better Therapeutics team,” said outgoing CEO Kevin Appelbaum. “Over the past seven years, I have had the privilege of assembling and leading an extraordinarily talented and committed team in creating, developing and validating a new class of treatments for cardiometabolic diseases. With positive primary endpoint data in-hand from our pivotal trial in type 2 diabetes, I am confident our first product is on track for a successful submission to the FDA and potential commercial launch in the upcoming year if authorized for marketing by the FDA. Frank’s long track record of building and financing life science companies will ensure that Better Therapeutics is able to capitalize on these results and bring life-changing prescription digital therapeutics to the providers and patients who need them most.”

Frank is a widely experienced senior executive, serving most recently as President and Chief Financial Officer of Myovant Sciences (Nasdaq: MYOV), where he led the company’s efforts to raise approximately $2 billion in capital and oversaw its evolution from a private start-up organization to a publicly listed commercial-stage company with two approved and marketed products. He also served for over a decade as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Exelixis, Inc., where he drove the biopharma company’s transformation from discovery to commercialization. Earlier in his career, he worked as an investment banker for Goldman Sachs & Co. focusing on corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions in the life sciences industry.

“Better Therapeutics is at an important stage in the company’s evolution, with the potential commercial launch of its first-in-class prescription digital therapeutic for the treatment of type 2 diabetes next year,” said incoming CEO Frank Karbe. “With the continued rise in cardiometabolic diseases, like diabetes, heart disease, and liver disease, it’s more important than ever to complement medication with digital therapeutics that address the behavioral root causes of these diseases. It is an honor and a great opportunity to lead such a talented group of people in this emerging new sector of healthcare, as we advance and expand our digital therapeutics platform with a goal to fundamentally change the course of these diseases by empowering patients and providers and substantially reducing the cost of care.”

“On behalf of the board of directors, we are grateful to Kevin for taking Better Therapeutics from a mere idea to a company on the cusp of potentially commercializing our first product and creating a better way to treat metabolic diseases,” said David Perry, co-founder and Executive Chairman. “And we are proud to welcome Frank, whose involvement in the launch of three commercial products, success in raising over $4 billion for two public biotech companies and integral role in leading business development activities speak to a track record of tangible successes in the life sciences industry. Equally important, Frank’s shared passion for the company’s mission to treat the underlying causes of diseases makes him uniquely suited to lead Better Therapeutics.”

Earlier this year, Better Therapeutics reported positive primary endpoint data at day 90 evaluating the use of nCBT for the treatment of patients with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes. The study met its primary efficacy endpoint and demonstrated an excellent safety profile. Patients who received BT-001 demonstrated clinically meaningful and statistically significant improvement in A1c compared to control (mean improvement 0.4%; p-value < 0.0001). Secondary endpoint data following 180 days of treatment are expected early in Q3, 2022. With continued positive data, the company expects to file a de novo classification request with the FDA in the third quarter of 2022 seeking marketing authorization of BT-001 for the treatment of patients with type 2 diabetes. Business Wire