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The
PHARM Game:
Drug Discovery and Development
Reviewed
by Tom Hollon
Modern Drug Discovery
January/February 1999
 Drugs
are brought from discovery to market approval by the coordinated
work of many specialists who are highly trained in their
tasks. Outside their own specialties, however, people
often have an incomplete understanding of the overall
development process. Even industry veterans of long and
wide experience sometimes have significant gaps in their
knowledge. It is obviously beneficial for pharmaceutical
companies to help their employees understand the full
scope of drug development. Workers will better understand
how their specialties affect the work of others, and the
value of their work to interdisciplinary teams will probably
be enhanced.
To
help specialists step away from their trees and see the
forest, The Learning Key, Inc., has created the PHARM
Game. Played on a large game board by teams of three to
five people, the PHARM Game offers an overview of drug
development. Players learn how drugs are discovered, developed,
taken into clinical trials, and presented for regulatory
approval.
Elizabeth
Treher, a former Squibb chemist, invented the game.
Several
of the big pharmaceutical companies have bought multiple
copies of the game, and some have paid to have game cards
customized to their needs. Custom card decks for clients
have included extra questions about the global pharmaceutical
market, adverse drug reactions, a company's history, and
a company's particular organization of drug development.
When
I played, I quickly found that there were plenty of things
I didn't know. I would have to play the game many times
to learn everything it can teach. But I did feel I had
learned something after just one game, and I had a very
good time.
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