Big Pharma Expansion Adds Malpractice & Manipulation
Bad Science
When Big Pharma [official site] appeared last year, Alec approved but pointed out it perhaps went a little easy on a severely dodgy target. Today's announced expansion, Marketing And Malpractice, looks like it might add a few more teeth to the management satire. With your drug developed, you now need to ensure doctors think it's the right one for their patients. "Take them to dinner, buy them some drinks, maybe a new set of golf clubs? It's no biggie! Everyone does it."
Due to be available from the 26th April, the Marketing And Malpractice expansion (£4.79/€5.99/$5.99) will add the ability to sell the drugs you've manufactured in the main game. Adding Executives, you'll now be able to schmooze and manipulate doctors in the way that makes Ben Goldacre's collar all smoky. Offer them free gifts, fudge the results of clinical trials, and run media campaigns to convince the public that they're doomed without your pills and potions. There's money manipulation too, letting you try to undercut your competition and attempt monopolies, as well as extra features for your production lines and new perks that can define how you play in a new game.
So that all sounds an awful lot more pointed, which can be no bad thing. It's not quite patenting AIDS drugs in Africa and suing cheaper copycats, but it's shining a light on the smudgier tactics of the industry, while hopefully creating interesting dynamics for management simulating. You can see more of the snark here:
