IN THE FACTORY
INK, THINK & TALK
Jasmine Spearing-Bowen
March 19, 2019
Costa Mesa-based Carma Project has paid out nearly $100,000 in incentives in collaboration with auto manufacturer Toyota to users who encourage friends and family to replace potentially deadly airbags.
Samantha Serbin, WTVM
January 22, 2019
Toyota is working on a new project to encourage their customers to get their vehicles checked out. They are collaborating with the Carma Project, giving gift cards to people for spreading information about the recall, and having friends and family get their cars checked.
Debbie Woodbury, Where We Go Now
January 16, 2019
One of my most satisfying accomplishments has been contributing to the health literacy of cancer patients in the area of clinical trials. In fact, I’m proud to say that I helped two people learn about and get enrolled in a clinical trial for patients with HR+, HER2- breast cancer.
December 27, 2018
Industry expects movement on drug pricing and access during 2019, but what other trends and events are we likely to see? We asked experts in a range of pharma-adjacent businesses for their predictions, hunches, and informed guesses.
by Jeff Plungis
December 20, 2018
The automaker and a tech startup are offering money to get car owners to replace deadly Takata airbags
PM360
October 26, 2018
PM360 asked experts in the various newest technologies impacting the pharma industry what is important to know in 2018 and beyond.
Emily Price
September 18, 22018
“[Data] is one of the really difficult things for startups to [access],” said Fabio Gratton, one of the contest judges. “You can’t prove your solution or test your algorithm without doing a study to collect data. So for Novartis to share data with the startups was brilliant.”
OC Business Journal
September 18, 2018
Digital health incubator Alchemy Factory is the #7 fastest-growing private company in Orange County, according to the OC Business Journal based on revenue from its top-performing companies: SONIC health, inVibe Labs, and CureClick.
August 14, 2018
inVibe Labs, the healthcare industry’s leading market research innovator, has just expanded its Philadelphia-based team with the hiring of two healthcare industry veterans, Beth Baldys and Donna Wray.
June 12, 2018
Gratton presents at Digital Pharma West his perspective on the importance of listening and the power of voice in better understanding and serving patients.
June 2, 2018
BryteLife was honored to be invited to share its electrolyte-infused club soda with partygoers at The Whalebone Magazine Three-Year-Anniversary Land Voyage at Gurney’s Montauk Yacht Club.
Klick Wire
February 23, 2018
This story is all about introducing digital marketing techniques to clinical trials. This is a critical issue that will only get more important as pharma searches for more niche and rare-disease drugs to improve patients' health.
OC Startups Now
February 13, 2018
OC Startups Now periodically run Q&A’s with interesting entrepreneurs, in their own words. Our first is with Fabio Gratton, founder of the Alchemy Factory, a digital health incubator in Costa Mesa. He also founded the Alchemy Fund; he’s looking to bring in some partners to get it up to $500,000 with a focus on companies in the health and wellness space.
By Sarah Mahoney
January 17, 2018
Clinical trials are essential to the industry and, as drug development costs continue to rise, they are more important to its growth than ever before. “We've never had this many trials, and there is more complexity,” says Fabio Gratton, cofounder and CEO of CureClick.
By Jay Bolling & Bygeri Kupcha
December 17, 2017
Various theories abound regarding how people make decisions, but at the end of the day, they are all just theories. Until we can climb into people’s heads, we have to rely on psychological theory as a way to explain and understand what’s going on so that we can motivate our target market into taking desired actions.
By Fabio Gratton, PM360 Featured Article
November 15, 2017
The result of today’s on-demand culture is the increasing expectations of consumers to always want more, exactly when they want it. And that means the User Interface (UI) is due for a complete revamp to better meet consumers’ desires. The story of Wendy Walker is just a taste of what the near future will look like for UI.
Orange County Business Journal
September 25, 2017
A beverage company hatched inside the Costa Mesa incubator Alchemy Factory is shipping its first cases and seeking distribution partners.
By Larry Dobrow, Medical Marketing & Media
September 5, 2017
What just about everybody agrees upon is an urgent need for innovation within the realm of clinical research. In the era of smart science and smarter patients, clinical-trial units continue to struggle with a range of recruitment and access issues.
San Diego Business Journal
August 18, 2017
Carlsbad-based fintech startup Bitmo Inc., which previously aimed to turn its app into the mobile alternative of choice to carrying payment cards, has stripped down the product and turned it into a delivery system for social gifting.
Lindsey Wahlstrom-Edwards
June 21, 2017
Exactly one year ago, we launched Antidote Match, the first truly patient centric clinical trials search tool (see an example at the bottom of the post).
MrWeb
June 1, 2017
In the US, healthcare market research firm inVibe Labs has appointed Sunny Shah as Vice President of Insights.
Heather Casper
May 19, 2017
Fabio Gratton, “Chief Alchemist” and founder of Alchemy Fund, is the latest investor to take interest in Bitmo, one of San Diego’s rising fintech startups...
By Lindsey Wahlstrom-Edwards,
May 18, 2017
“At CureClick believe that clinical trials are the lifeblood of medical progress. Without research, there are no new treatments; no cures. It is critical that we help each other find, understand, and participate in research, when it makes sense.” - Brian Poeschl, COO, CureClick
Jamie Ducharme (Boston Magazine)
May 19, 2017
This summer, an app called iRewardHealth is running a promotion that will help Bostonians live even healthier lives, and give back to the community in the process.
Deirdre Newman
May 17, 2017
Alchemy Factory, an incubator focused on helping health and tech startups expedite their product development through capital, infrastructure, mentorship, research and marketing services, has invested $50,000 in Bitmo.
Press Release
May 16, 2017
WEGO Health, a network of more than 100,000 patient leaders, today announced it has partnered with CureClick to make patient influencers available through the CureClick clinical trial recruiting platform.
Press Release
April 4, 2017
Company Demonstrates Its On-Demand Qualitative Service, the inVibe Interactive Voice Response Platform, at IIeX Health Conference.
Apple Insider
Feb 22, 2017
A research study on epilepsy with the Apple Watch and ResearchKit at the core of the work has concluded, and is shedding light on seizure triggers, hopefully paving the way for better identification of precursors of the disruptive and dangerous event.
Medical Marketing & Media
February 2017
PMBs and health-plan executives haven't always been vocal about the changes set in motion by the shift to outcomes-based pricing. InVibe, with help from Interactive Forums, polled 13 medical or pharmacy directors. Hear their take on several formulary-related issue.
Sonic Health & Alchemy Factory Host Innovation Workshop at UCI's School of Applied Innovation
UCI Applied Innovation
November 16, 2106
On Tuesday morning, local digital health strategy firm Sonic Health and Costa Mesa based incubator Alchemy Factory held an innovation workshop for the marketing team of a major Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company at the Cove.
by John Mack, Pharma Marketing Guy
November 11, 2016
At the recent Part 15 FDA hearing on off-label promotion results from two different consumer/patient surveys were presented. The first was presented by John Mack, Editor of Pharma Marketing News and administered by inVibe Research, and the second was presented by Dr. Doris Peter, Principal Investigator, Best Buy Drugs Project at Consumer Reports.
Medical Marketing & Media
Oct 6, 2016
CureClick was honored with a silver award at last night’s MM&M (Medical Marketing & Media) Awards. The annual MM&M Awards showcase the best in creativity and effectiveness in healthcare marketing, communications, and media.
Pharmiweb
Oct 5, 2016
CureClick today announced the launch of CureClick Media, a new media platform that drives quality patient referrals across dozens of diseases and conditions.
August 19, 2016
CureClick, a privately held digital health company that has developed the world's first crowdsourcing platform engineered to promote clinical trial participation, education and awareness, today announced a commitment to double its network of its cancer Community Ambassadors in response to the company's participation in the Cancer Moonshot Summit hosted by Vice President Joe Biden.
Jason Booth, Josh Epstein, Fabio Gratton, Yan Xiong, Sheetal Patel
July 24-28, 2016
A research study was conducted using the inVibe clinical research platform to assess the relationship between the time since the last FVIII infusion and how protected from bleeding a patient with severe hemophilia A feels. The findings from the study were presented at the 2016 World Federation of Hemophilia congress.
July 26, 2016
Fabio is a digital health maven because of his ability to solve the toughest innovation-related challenges with enthusiasm rather than resignation. His curious mind and active intellect has enabled him to develop numerous initiatives that are helping patients, entrepreneurs and others globally...
eXl Digital Pharma West
June 13, 2016
Fabio Gratton, Keynote Presenter
In the Innovation Day keynote presentation, Chief Alchemist of Southern California's first all-health digital incubators will discuss what he believes is the single-most fundamental driver of all human decisions that will utterly change the way you think about health, wealth and death.
July 6, 2016
Healthcare market research firm inVibe Labs now lets companies pose questions to payors through its automated voice-response research platform.
Whitepaper: The New Wave of Innovation in Clinical Trials
by Daniel Barron
edited by Nassim Azzi (EyeforPharma)
Feb 2016
This paper is an analysis of a discussion lead by group of innovators gathered at Patient Centered Clinical Trials 2015 in a bid to identify and uncover challenges associated with industry-wide patient-centered technology adoption.
Market Wired
Oct 22, 2015
National Stroke Association released a new Public Service Announcement (PSA) this week as part of Come Back Strong -- the first national movement to rally for stroke recovery. The PSA has been released in honor of World Stroke Day which is Thursday, October 29.
By Moe Alsumidaie, Applied Clinical Trials
Oct 12, 2015
The topic of patient centricity remains very active in the clinical trials industry, as the concept continues to emerge and evolve. The purpose of this Patient Centered Clinical Trials facilitated by our friends at eyeforpharma virtual roundtable is to (a) better understand the definition of patient centricity, (b) uncover challenges associated with industry wide patient centered technology adoption and (c) how patient centricity/engagement technologies will push the biopharmaceutical industry to change.
In celebration of 10 years of the PharmaVOICE 100
Sept 17, 2015
The PharmaVOICE 100 celebrates the individuals behind the companies, products, brands, tools, and services that benefit patients worldwide, we have now recognized more than 1,000 of the industry’s most inspirational leaders from all sectors of the industry.
Market Wired
Sept 9, 2015
National Stroke Association today unveiled Come Back Strong, the first national movement to rally for stroke recovery and ignite a conversation about the #5 cause of death. Despite killing more women each year than breast cancer, stroke remains largely misunderstood when it comes to overall awareness and the opportunity for recovery.
By Amy Ohm
Aug 21, 2015
Treatment Diaries was founded so that patients could anonymously share information about their cancer journey. This sharing of information is so helpful to others going through similar circumstances. The CureClick Ambassador program also shares information with patients. I joined this program so that I could reach out to others via social media and share information about clinical trials.
Read the article.By Joan Justice (Patient Empowerment Network)
August 12, 2015
The Apple Research Kit was introduced several months ago and is making headway in the world of clinical trials, facilitating clinical trial enrollment, navigation and process for patients.
By Fabio Gratton
March 11, 2015
The announcement of Apple's new ResearchKit platform disrupted the world of clinical innovation and provided a glimpse into the future of medical research.
TechCrunch
Feb 5, 2015
The UK startup says it reaches “millions” of patients online through partnerships with health portals including Healthline, Everyday Health and CenterWatch, as well as patient networks such as WEGO Health and CureClick.
By Todd Kolm
January 20, 2015
No matter the preparation, resources or rigor applied, there is often an element of marketing that is done in the dark. Even in today’s data-rich, hyper-connected world there is a degree of guesswork resident in the process. Don’t get me wrong, the marketers making these educated guesses are bright people who get it right a lot of the time. But just not all of the time. Absolute confidence in marketing is an elusive beast.
By David Vaczek
January 2015
A three-way partnership of CureClick.com, WEGO Health and TrialReach aims to enlist influential patient opinion leaders to accelerate clinical trial recruitment and completion.
By Robin Robinson
December 2015
“In a world where wearable sensors interface directly with Watson-like systems with dizzying computational horsepower, future doctors are likely to look more like today’s IT personnel: they will be responsible for procuring the most appropriate hardware and software for the human health enterprise, and then helping to configure and maintain it until it’s time for an upgrade.”
Press Release
November 19, 2014
Creating a new model for clinical trial recruitment, CureClick.com has partnered with WEGO Health and TrialReach to make consumer healthcare influencers a vital part of helping patients find clinical trials.
By Fard Johnmar
Sept 19, 2014
A little over a year-and-a-half ago, I wrote a column for Marketing:Health focusing on the emergence of technology-aided content personalization. It was one of my most popular essays.
by Fabio Gratton, Innovation Catalyst Sonic Health
Sept 12, 2014
The days of creating meaningful, relevant and memorable advertising are pretty much over—especially in the digital world. And healthcare is no exception. As an industry, it appears we’ve shifted our focus from designing ads that stop to ads that stalk.
Digital Edition - Bonus Content
September 2014
Pocket.MD, a free online service created by Alchemy Factory, has curated a directory of mobile applications created by healthcare companies for medical professionals, patients, caregivers, and consumers.
By John Mack
August 21, 2014
To get the perspective of patient advocates, Pharma Marketing News accessed the Truvio health consumer influencer panel. Truvio is powered by the WEGO Health Activist Network of more than 100,000 opted-in and vetted consumer health influencers from more than 130 health conditions and topics.
by Fabio Gratton
August 18, 2014
Though mobile phone apps have long been regarded as potential 'game changers' in healthcare, the journey has been slower than many digital gurus expected, with surprisingly few apps actually designed to bring value to patients. Is pharma getting the message right?
By Fabio Gratton, Innovation Catalyst for Sonic Health
August 13, 2014
When I first started in this industry 17 years ago I was just as naive, ignorant, and arrogant as I am now...
Press Release
August 11, 2014
New partnership will give better clinical trial access and information to over 100,000 patient influencers.
The Entrepreneurs: Fabio Gratton
August 1, 2014
These extraordinary leaders, representing a wide range of industry sectors and functional areas of expertise, are having a positive impact on their colleagues, their companies, and the greater healthcare community.
By Sarah Morgan
March 1, 2014
[excerpt] The prescribing of orphan and specialty drugs is at a crossroads, where access issues are acutely felt—and things may get worse. As these drugs account for a larger part of total spend, insurers say a barrage of tactics are needed to manage costs. Sarah Morgan on why this is a defining moment.
By Brian Mondry and Jo Boxall (Kantar Health)
Feb 27, 2014
Empowered patients, or citizen experts as they are often called, are becoming one of the most powerful forces in healthcare, which means the pharmaceutical industry must learn to effectively engage with them. Here, new research presented by Kantar Health explores exactly what is driving patient empowerment and what it means for pharma.
By Robin Robinson
Feb 2014, PharmaVoice
[excerpt] Pocket.md, a directory of mobile medical applications, lists more than 1,500 mobile apps that have been produced by biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medical device companies. Out of those apps, fewer than 10% are for patients living with chronic diseases, while a majority...
By Fabio Gratton & Ross Fetterolf
Dec 2013, Medical Marketing & Media
[excerpt] Zoe Dunn's recent article, “Should pharma abandon social media?” raised some compelling points that called into question pharma's approach to patient engagement through social media...
Press Release
Sept 30, 2013
[excerpt] WEGO Health ( www.wegohealth.com ), the first online home for consumer health opinion leaders, today announced a breakthrough in social consumer research with the introduction of Truvio ( www.truvio.com ), the first influencer-powered, voice-response mobile research platform for the healthcare and biotechnology industries.
Drugs.com
July 2013
When it comes to the topic of pharma’s use of social media, we’ve been having this same conversation for over a decade, with more fervor of course since the 2009 hearings, and it’s pretty much the same music and lyrics.
Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA, for Huffington Post
March 2012
In part 2 of a 4-part series on the impact of gaming on healthcare, Fabio Gratton answers the question, "How is gaming helping to change the landscape in health care?"
COOKS
Fabio Gratton
Chief Scientist
Fabio is the co-founder and CEO of Invibe, a gamified mobile “listening” platform that lets companies get insights from people “on-the-go” and “in-the-moment” — inviting them to share their thoughts on just about anything via pictures, video, and voice with lightning speed and high-fidelity. Invibe's first product, Truvio, connects the voice of 100,000 consumer health opinion leaders directly to companies who want to hear what they think.
Fabio Gratton
Chief Alchemist
Previously Fabio founded one of the leading digital agencies in the US, Ignite Health, that went on to be acquired by inVentiv Health in 2007. Fabio stayed on to operate as Chief Innovation Officer through 2013, when he decided to leave to spend more time with this family.
Fabio Gratton
Chief Daddy-O
At the Gratton residence, Fabio has made a lifetime commitment to providing endless buckets of love for his family. And like most daddies, he has spent the past several years working diligently to crack the code on life/work harmony.
