Forbie

Forbie is an app to empower individuals to take control of their own health data, make informed evidence-based decisions and connect with experts.

Even patients who see doctors on a regular basis for a chronic condition may have difficulty, once they actually get to the doctor, to recall specific patterns of pain or other symptoms. For example, someone may have a doctor's visit, develop side effects from medication for several weeks, and then have those side effects dissipate by the next doctor's visit. They may forget to mention the side effects to the doctor or think that since the side effects are no longer present, it's not important. However, without addressing the issue (for example, through a change in medication type of dosage) the side effects may be more likely to occur again. Or, the side effects themselves may be a sign of different health problem. 

Another problem patients may have is to process all the information doctors give to them during appointments, whether it be suggestions on how to manage side effects, self-care suggestions outside of prescribed medication, words of encouragement, or helpful suggestions (for example, "some patients have found it helpful to avoid dairy to alleviate symptoms").

Monitor your medication

An essential aspect of your recovery, Forbie®'s medication tracker, can help ensure you're taking the right medication, at the right dose, at the right time.

Let Forbie® be your eyes and ears to get more out of every doctors' visit.

Forbie allows you to record how you feel how you feel via audio or written notes, track your daily pain levels and symptoms, and avoid recall bias and communicate accurate symptoms to providers.  Patients can access their comprehensive list of medications, add dosage, frequency, food instructions, and refill dates, set reminders to take medication and order refills, and take notes about how medications make them feel. 

They can also record and transcribe everything their doctor says, leave themselves important notes and takeaways, hare pain and symptom information from their journal, and create graphical symptom reports to share with your doctor. This will help them to avoid stress and anxiety from information overload. 

Our entire team has been personally impacted by cancer. Collectively, our team has extensive experience in private equity, healthcare platforms and management,  manufacturing and production planning, computational neuroscience, machine learning, and digital design. Our COO works closely with executive teams in creating both processes and tools that enable clear visibility and efficient processes. Her experience is global in nature and she has effectively supported both small and mid-size companies, startups, reorgs and established businesses.

One of our team and board members was diagnosed with metastatic cancer and is an active user of our app. Previously in the manufacturing industry, she has worked with our team and with our digital designer, whose father is a cancer survivor, to developed the Forbie interface. Our Chief Solutions Architect has lost two close relatives to cancer and uses his Engineering background for various outreach initiatives to further Forbie's mission. 

We have also partnered with two oncologists and a leading researcher at the University of Southern California, who have been piloting the app with their patients and clinical trial participants for the last year. 

Finally, we have two organizational partnerships. One is with Foundation 96, a company that fosters an online care community for people transitioning from cancer treatment to everyday life. The other  is with Wheelhouse, a cancer management platform for employer-sponsored health plans,.

Yes. Our online evidence-based community support network can empower individuals to take control of their own health data, make informed evidence-based decisions and connect with experts across the field of cancer treatment and research. Our unique combination of prevention, care management, and survivorship solutions is seen in the comprehensive cancer care app.

Although cancer patients are our current pilot data, a look at our product and the previous answers (as well as the video) will illustrate we can easily expand beyond this population, in particular for those with chronic or long-term conditions. We are looking to create a full-service resource for cancer patients which will rapidly further our mission to change the impact of chronic conditions on quality of life.

It has served 200, and we hope to serve 1000 or more in the next year. 

One of our big barriers is the lack of awareness of the product. Because a minority of our team members are practicing doctors, or academics who have see patients in trials, we lack an easy way (for example, a medical conference) to disseminate information about the impact our product can make. 

Another barrier is that the interface is currently specific to cancer patients, and we are balancing between reaching a greater number of cancer patients while also looking to expand the features in a way that it be more easily applicable to a variety of conditions so a greater number of patients can benefit from it.

We have partnered with Foundation 96, which is a means to connect with people who are experiencing treatment side effects. The Forbie app helps patients identify when they need physical or emotional support and Foundation 96 can then refer them to trusted health and wellness professionals who can assist them.

We have also partnered with Wheelhouse. Wheelhouse is a cancer management platform bringing 20 years of experience in oncology to provide a holistic approach through a family of solutions for employers and health plans to close the gaps in cancer care for their employees. Solutions include cancer prevention strategies, cancer navigation, cancer coaching, insurance advising, survivorship, and return-to-work plans. With Wheelhouse and Forbie working together, the rate at which cancer patients can experience an improved quality of life is significantly accelerated.

1. Key resources:

Forbie.com platform

Investment capital

2. Key Activities:

Managing Platform

Marketing to research hospitals and academics in healthcare

3. Type of intervention:

Service: Interactive interface

4. Channels:

Forbie.com

Research hospitals, academics in healthcare

5. Segments:

Cancer patients and those in remission

Families of cancer patients

Reserach hospitals, academics in healthcare

6. Cost structure:

Staff

Online platform

7. Surplus:

Marketing and platform development

We have an embedded business model for financial sustainability; Forbie was created to advance healthcare by easing the mental health of cancer patients by advancing the monitoring of physical care. We raise investment capital to advance this mission. Our services would be sold directly to third-party buyers such as hospitals or academics through their grant funding. We would establish the appropriate fee structure based on number of clients or patients.