The Drug Discovery industry is in a 'bit of a state', as they say. A common complaint is that the fault is that of current management, and if that only the right decisions were taken, everything would be fine. So why don't we run an experiment - but in a game format. The basic idea will be to become a CEO of a virtual pharma, you can select some drugs, and track them through to the market. You will start in a pretty good position with two launched revenue generating products, let's see how you get on. The winner will be the person at the end of the game with the largest pile of cash. This cash is virtual, of course, it is just a game.
Here are some preliminary rules.
Any person, or group, can register as a Player.
Entry shall be free, and completely void of obligations from either party. It is a game.
A Player can select two current Launched Drugs, three Phase 3 Development Candidates, six Phase 2 Development Candidates, and ten Phase 1 Development Candidates, as their Pipeline. The highest current development stage of a compound will be used in all cases. Compounds currently in Registration will be considered to be a Launched Drug.
Revenues from Global Sales of the drugs will be accrued annually. The starting Cash Balance for each player is zero $. Relevant currency conversions to $US will be performed at year end, using current finance.yahoo.com conversion rates. Accrued Revenues will be gross, and as reported in relevant company financial reports.
Any Legal Damages incurred by a Launched Drug during the game period will be deducted from the players Cash Balance.
Players must maintain a zero or positive Cash Balance at all times. If they fail to do so, they will leave the game.
The game will run for ten years.
At the end of years three and six, players can buy new candidates from their accrued Cash Balance, at a cost of $50M for a phase 1 Development Candidate, $250M for a phase 2 Development Candidate, and $800M for a phase 3 Development Candidate. A Player can spend up to 20% of their Cash Balance on such purchases. The total number of Development Candidates at any particular phase cannot be larger than the allocations at the start of the game (see above). You cannot buy a Launched Drug, beyond your initial selection of two currently Launched Drugs.
As Development Candidates progress from phase 1 to phase 2, etc. a Player can refill their pipeline with the purchase of a new Development Candidate to repopulate the preceeding phase up to the total development stage allocations (at the prices listed above).
You will be charged $1000M p.a. for R&D costs, this will be deducted from you Cash Balance.
Players can remain anonymous if they wish. But it would be great to have some well known industry personalities. Anonymous players cannot claim the prize (details of the prize are below). Please note, some form of identity validation will be performed in cases where a clearly identifiable individual is named.
Closing date for entries will be April 1st 2009. If there are less than ten entries, the game will not proceed.
This rule list is preliminary, and subject to change!
I will do a little bit of web searching over the next few days to see if any other related games are already underway, and get back with a follow-on post with an update. As an update, I could not find a similar game discussed, or underway.
Given the length of the game (ten years!) it is not one for extreme excitement and interaction - you have been warned!
Finally, if there are more than 20 entries I will set up some visually satisfying content on the game web site (http://www.fantasypharmagame.com, at the moment the domain is simply held). I will also put in place some alternate pipeline selection strategies, based on random selection of drugs/development candidates, 'wisdom of the commons' etc., these will join the game as virtual players.
There may be something interesting in comparing these alternate strategies. A further set of interesting selections would be to run the current top 10 pharma as Players, with their own current pipelines, or best subsets thereof.
I have looked into identifying a suitable prize, and the prize will be a case (for clarity, six 750ml bottles) of a quality 2009 champagne and an engraved cup - which by the time the competition ends could be an excellent vintage, depending on the summer we have in France this year - another gamble, which seems appropriate given the game itself. For those of you that do not drink alcohol, at least you get the cup.
The Drug Discovery industry is in a 'bit of a state', as they say. A common complaint is that the fault is that of current management, and if that only the right decisions were taken, everything would be fine. So why don't we run an experiment - but in a game format. The basic idea will be to become a CEO of a virtual pharma, you can select some drugs, and track them through to the market. You will start in a pretty good position with two launched revenue generating products, let's see how you get on. The winner will be the person at the end of the game with the largest pile of cash. This cash is virtual, of course, it is just a game.