In this week’s InnovationRx : Thyme Care trades helms, a stomach bug runs rampant across the states, and Chai Discovery secures massive funding. Subscribe here to catch the next batch in your inbox.
Robin Shah is done running the ship.
At least, he is stepping down as CEO. The effective date? September 1. Shah built Thyme Care six years ago to help cancer patients navigate the chaos of their own treatment. He’s passing the torch to Dr. Brad Diephuis. A primary care physician. A cancer survivor. And the current co-president and COO.
“We found our Steve Ballmer,” Shah told Forbes. He admits he knew it when they first met five years back. Even if Diephuis didn’t realize it yet, Shah had a succession plan tucked away in his head.
Timing is everything. This leadership swap drops nine months after ThymeCare hit a $1.1 billion valuation. That is double what it was worth in previous rounds during 2024. Based in Nashville, the startup has pulled in $275 million total. Big names involved: CVS Health Ventures, Humana Foresite Capital Town Hall Ventures, and Andreessen Horowitz.
Shah 39 Flatiron Health alum will take the title of executive chairman. He isn’t vanishing. Instead, he is hunting for expansion. Specifically: drug affordability. Clinical trial access. AI-driven automation. His goal? Patient victory.
“Let’s make sure the patient wins” is his mantra.
Dr. Bobby Green stays put. The 60-year-old co-founder and former Flatiron health employee remains president and chief medical officer.
VC-backed startups often shake up management at inflection points. A roadblock? Preparing for IPO? Not here. Thyme Care is humming. Revenue jumped over fivefold since 2024 to hit $125 million last year. Expect that number to double again this year. It’s already profitable. Currently, they manage over $6 billion in oncology spend. Could be $8 billion soon via new insurer deals.
On Monday, Shah and Diephuis talked to the team. The company grew too fast. They needed a CEO focused on scale. The founder? Free to invent new things.
“People think a transition means trouble” Diephuis says. At 40 he used to work as a senior advisor for CMS innovation models. “We are strong. Robin sees the big picture. I see how to optimize what works.”
For Diephuis, it is personal. He fought rare bone cancer in his 20s. 20 chemo rounds. 115 nights in hospitals over two years. 15 years later he just has annual checkups. But he remembers the confusion. After surgery at home, he had to call his oncologist. Why? No one called him back.
“I was like well was anybody going to reach out?”
He hated that system. So did the founders of Thyme Care. Now it helps 125 000 patients across 14 000 oncologists and 14 insurers including Humana and Aetina. They cut ER visits by 28%. One Medicare Advantage customer saw costs drop 10%.
“It’s easy to cut costs by doing less. Hard to improve quality while doing it.”
Diephuis thinks they can double the patient count in two years.
The Cyclosporiasis Spread
Bad news elsewhere. A nasty intestinal bug. Cyclosporiasis. 31 states have it. The CDC reports 843 confirmed cases though they track over 1 500 under analysis. Symptoms include explosive diarrhea caused by a parasite. Michigan is hit hardest: 3 309 cases there alone. 44 hospitalized.
Officials suspect lettuce. Salad greens. Then The Washington Post reported health agencies are investigating Taco Bell connections. Local Detroit papers said some locations stopped selling lettuce cilantro onions pico de gallo or guac because of a national recall.
Taco Bell responded Tuesday: they removed items but no link is confirmed to the brand supplier or store.
Older outbreaks linked raspberries. Basil. Cilantro.
Washing help a little? Maybe. It won’t kill the parasite. You have to cook. Heating produce to 158°F or higher works.
The Trump Administration cut back food monitoring previously. Former CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield disagreed with that choice. Surveillance finds problems early. Cutting it? Not in our interest.
AI in Drug Discovery Gets Bigger
Chai Discovery raised $400M. Valuation is $3.8B. Led by Index Ventures. Forbes profiled them recently mentioning talks for this exact amount. Now confirmed.
San Francisco based. AI for drugs. Big promise. Huge risk. They signed deals with Pfizer and Eli Lilly early this year. Maybe AI really will tackle undruggable targets. Or maybe not. The scientists and investors hope yes.
Deal Watch
Apollo Global Management bought a $3.4B minority stake in Bayer’s contraception unit. The products stay within Bayer pharmaceuticals. Think hormonal IUDs. Sales hit $1.6B last year (up 8% YoY). Closing Q3.
Roundup
- A father spent $70 million pursuing gene therapy to save his daughter Grace. It changes everything for the field.
- Eli Lilly already dominates pharma but made 11 biotech acquisitions first half 2026 alone.
- Charged with murder: A mother claimed vaccinations killed her twin toddlers then joined RFK Jr.’s nonprofit. The legal system disagrees with the claim.
- Apnimed (sleep apnea drug) filed for IPO. Remember the Forbes piece earlier this year?
- Oxford starts human trials for an Ebola vaccine. Specifically for strains spreading in Congo Uganda.
- States cut Medicaid funding. Family caregivers get squeezed financially. They used to get state payments now? Good luck.
Forbes notes OpenAI’s strategy for healthcare buy-ins. Israel sells $1M spy vans to US police forces via Palantir rival.
Read those too if you want. Or just go eat some cooked salad. 🥗
