Who Has Actually Played BI's SYRUM Game? The Silence is Deafening!

During today's #hcsmeu chat session (see archive here) I asked "Truthfully - has any of my EU colleagues actually played SYRUM?"

There's been a lot of hype about Syrum previous to its launch by Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) in the EU (see here), but I've heard nothing post launch from anyone who has actually spent time playing the "game" (I'm told that it's not a form of "gamification").

"Who's the EU 'pharmaguy' who will take on this task and report back?", I asked.

Turns out that one person (Maria Öst, Sweden, aka @mariaatomaca) admitted she signed on to a beta account, but she didn't actually play the game. By signing on, Maria gave Syrum (and BI) permission to "post on [her] behalf" and "read [her] checkins" even if she does not play the game (see here).

According to @fision (Kai Gait, UK) Syrum opens "lots of potential opportunity in the future by accessing the interest graph of players" -- even if they don't actually play the game ("If a user doesn’t ‘disconnect’ the game, they [BI] still have access to data in theory," said @fision).

Felix Jackson (@felixjackson, UK, founder of medDigital) actually has played the game and said "I ... enjoyed it! I liked the way it showed me drug development." I thank Felix for taking the time to give me a live tour of the Syrum via Skype during which I saw a few peculiar things such as a masked avatar that looked like an Al Qaeda terrorist! I guess it was supposed to be a surgical mask. I've worked in a lab and I never saw anyone wear a mask. Maybe drug development labs are different.

One of the features of the game is that you can see friends on Facebook who have also signed on to play the game. You can "recruit" these friends to be members of your drug development team or you can collaborate with them. Unfortunately, none of Felix's FB friends -- including BI's John Pugh -- were able to collaborate with Felix because they didn't have any molecules under development (ie, they currently are not playing the game).

Meanwhile, Helen Harrison (@harrassedmom) alerted me to this "walk through" on YouTube:



By the time you read this, one or two other people I know on Twitter may tell me that they also have played Syrum. These people, however, are mostly like me -- not representative of Syrum's target audience, which is the general public. We won't know very much about how many of those people have signed on to play, how long they have played, etc., unless BI shares that information with us. That make take another 3 years -- I'll wait :-)

BI to Launch Beta Version of its Syrum FaceBook Game on September 13, 2012

John Pugh, Director of Digital for Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH (BI), announced that BI will release a BETA version of the FaceBook game SYRUM at a PSFK conference in London on September 13, 2012.

I have been anxiously awaiting the launch of this game after I first heard about it 10 months ago at a pharma industry conference (see "Pharma & Fun, Not Oxymoronic? Here Comes Gamification!" and "BI's Facebook Game Syrum to be Launched 'When It's Ready'"). At least BI is speedier than the FDA in delivering on long-awaited promises!

I have not heard of the PSFK conferences until now. According to its website, PSFK "conferences offer a diverse program of speakers with backgrounds in art, technology, design, marketing, and media, creating an environment where disparate ideas can come together in new ways to fuel work that changes the world for the better. We set an agenda that allows participants to meet and discuss with one another, together sharing and building upon the ideas brought forth from the stage."

I am a bit surprised, however, that Pugh/BI did not choose to launch SYRUM at a pharma industry conference such as DigiPharm Europe, which will take place less than a fortnight later, also in London. Over the past year, Pugh has been making the rounds at such industry conferences promoting SYRUM. I'm not one to speculate (ha ha), but is Pugh getting ready to move on to greener pastures in another, more "innovative" industry? To be fair, it's important for pharma company employees to make connections with like-minded people in other industries to get new ideas that may be applied to pharma.

In any case, here's some of what Pugh revealed to PSFK (read the full interview here):

“We are taking a Silicon Valley approach,” said Pugh, “where we know we have got a really good game that’s stable but we’ll launch a beta version. We really want to make it so that we get lots of feedback from the people who are playing.”

“We’re offering rewards and prizes for people to give feedback so that we can really create the duration of the game, and develop it, and have more of a crowdsourced collaborative effort to develop the future stages of it, so the game will grow and evolve, as more people play it. This is a very unique offering from a highly regulated industry.”

"Crowdsourcing" seems to be all the rage now in the pharmaceutical industry. See, for example, "Crowd Sourced Creative Commons Drug Information" (free subscription required).

Meanwhile, here's a first glimpse of actual SYRUM game screens - previously, we've only been able to see the opening screen with the message "coming soon."

"A Drug is Developed:" Easier than Launching an Educational Facebook Game about Drug Development?

About six months ago in December, 2011, Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) teamed up with the Mainz Natural History Museum in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, to create "Ein Medicament Entsteht" ("The development of a medicine"), which was an educational exhibit seen by more than 30,000 visitors who "marvelled at the story of a drug's development cycle from the first project outline through to market authorisation." Here's the YouTube video:



Meanwhile, back in October, 2011, BI's @johnpugh was tweeting about a "kick-ass [Facebook} game" called Syrum, in which "a player must first investigate molecular compounds at a research desk before putting them to the test in the laboratory, then conduct clinical trials and, if successful, advance a treatment to market." For more about this game read "BI's Facebook Game Syrum to be Launched 'When It's Ready'."

It turns out that Syrum has been much more difficult to "bring to market" than the Mainz Museum exhibit. Syrum is still not ready to be played and is "Coming Soon" (see screen shot below taken today when I clicked on the "How to Play" button).

I'm supposed to be a "beta tester" -- someone who reviews the game before it is launched to the public -- but, so far, I haven't been given anything to test. I'm afraid this game might take longer to develop and bring to market than an actual drug!

Meanwhile, John Pugh continues to talk about Syrum at industry conferences. Most recently, Pugh presented at "Doctors 2.0 & You™" and he is scheduled to provide "A Detailed Update on the Development and Continued Use of Syrum" at ExL's 6th Annual Digital Pharma East Unconference on October 17, 2012. Of course, that depends on the gamiification development process, which we know can take years!

Games vs. Mobile Health Monitoring Devices: Which is a Better Motivator?

What could possibly justify spending $8,000 for an electronic mobile ultrasound device vs. $100 for a stethoscope? Keep in mind that the stethoscope will likely last a lifetime, whereas the electronic device -- like my son's iPod -- may last only a couple of years before failing or becoming obsolete even sooner.

"Why would I listen to 'lub dub' when I can see everything?" said a doctor quoted in today's Wall Street Journal (see "Can Mobile Monitoring Devices Improve Medical Treatment?"). "Dr. Topol, a cardiologist in San Diego, carries with him instead a portable ultrasound device roughly the size of a cellphone [see image]. When he puts it to a patient's chest, the device allows him to peer directly into the heart. The patient looks, too; together, they check out the muscle, the valves, the rhythm, the blood flow."

Doctors, especially cardiologists, are notorious gadget geeks, so you have to take their enthusiasm for electronic devices with a grain of salt, especially when they claim that the devices will improve health care.

"[Dr. Topol] and other physicians say the technology can not only improve diagnoses and treatment, but also revolutionize how doctors and patients think about health care. Mobile tools allow physicians to monitor vital signs, note changes in activity levels and verify that medications have been taken, without ever seeing a patient face to face."

I wasn't aware that physicians were even interested in "verifying that medications have been taken" let alone that they would buy expensive devices to help them do that. Most physicians don't want to take on that responsibility and be legally liable. Also, who will pay for the service, especially when the physician makes a substantial investment in devices? The same goes for "monitoring vital signs" and other forms of monitoring patients from afar. "We're getting virtual touch, rather than actual touch," says Dr. Topol.

Dr. Topol "found that many [of his] patients are more willing to make lifestyle changes that keep them healthy when they can monitor the consequences of their actions in real time. A doctor can talk 'until he's blue in the face,' he says, but it sometimes takes cold, hard data to motivate a patient."

Social gaming enthusiasts disagree. "We tried to give people constant feedback about [patients'] health, but for a lot of people, more bad news and negative feedback just didn't work," said Adam Bosworth, the chief technology officer at Keas Inc., whose clients include Pfizer Inc. and Novartis Inc. "If you keep giving someone negative feedback, they will eventually change the channel to the game channel. One day we decided to become that game channel." Bosworth was quoted in another Wall Street Journal article published today (see "Health Care Social Gaming Start-Ups").

So, which technology is better for helping people change their lifestyles and improve their health? Social media games or remote monitoring devices?

Which technology is better at helping change behavior & improve health?
	Mobile social gaming apps
	Mobile remote monitoring devices
	Both are effective.
	Neither are effective.
	I don't have a clue!

Angry PhRMA, Level 1: PDUFA

Yesterday I suggested a real "kick-ass" pharma-related game would be ANGRY PHRMA (see "Pharma & Fun, Not Oxymoronic? Here Comes Gamification!"). Below is shown "Level 1: PDUFA," the goal of which is to "knock down" those Senators trying to give FDA new regulatory powers as part of the bill -- or as PhRMA describes it, those "additional provisions that could create unintended burdens on the regulatory process" (see "PhRMA Statement Regarding Prescription Drug User Fee Act Reauthorization"). PhRMA specifically disagrees with REMS because it “has led to a breakdown in FDA’s review process and has eroded some of the positive progress derived from earlier PDUFA agreements" (see "PDUFA 2012 – Background From PhRMA’s Perspective").

OK, that's the boring, policy wonk explanation. Let's get down to  some serious Senatorial "butt whooping" fun!

EXTRA CREDIT: Name at least 2 Senators that PhRMA needs to work on.

I'll try and come up with more levels of play for my ANGRY PHARMA game, but I need your help. Suggest an issue that PhRMA is or needs to be angry about and who the adversaries (little piggies) are. Also, describe the pigs' fortress that the Angry PhRMA Birds must knock down.

BI's Facebook Game Syrum to be Launched "When It's Ready." Needs to Obey Privacy & FTC Laws First!

I wrote a review of Boehringer Ingelheim's (BI's) long-awaited -- but not yet available -- Facebook game, Syrum, in yesterday's post to Pharma Marketing Blog (see "Pharma & Fun, Not Oxymoronic? Here Comes Gamification!"). Today, I brought up the topic of pharma-sponsored "gamification" during the #hcsmeu chat. BI's John Pugh -- who is in charge of the Syrum project -- saw the "bat signal" that was raised when the subject of Syrum came up and he joined the conversation.

One question I asked during the chat was "@JohnPugh When is Syrum actually going to be launched? Hope not same schedule as FDA guidelines! :-)" to which John responded: "@pharmaguy Syrum will be launched when its ready, but I expect the first round of testing to be B4 the end of this year."

Oh, Oh! This sounds suspiciously like FDA's "promise" to come up with social media guidelines by the "end of the year" (ie, 2010).

So the timeline for the ACTUAL release of Syrum is sometime in 2012 (after 1st round of testing) -- maybe even ONE WHOLE YEAR after the game was announced on Facebook! Related to that, I posted this comment to the #hcsmeu chat: "Personally, I'm a little miffed at BI for promoting Syrum so far in advance of its actual launch date! All hype, no substance!"

How can BI justify announcing Syrum on Facebook (and at several industry conference presentations) a year or more before the game is actually available to be played? Hint: note the signup section at the bottom of the screen:

Of course, I signed up. I'm not sure how many other people also signed up, but is this BI's way of trial ballooning the concept? I mean, will the game be developed only if a certain number of people sign up?

John Pugh suggested that people who wish to beta test the game (me! me! pick me!) should use this form to sign up. I pointed out that the sign up form seems only for people who want to be notified when the game is launched ("Sign up below to be the first to know about the official launch or come back soon... the health of the world depends on it!").

After signing up, I received the following email message in my SPAM filter/box:

A "Syrum - Out of Office" message? Very odd! What's BI trying to do here? They are certainly not opening up to communicate with potential game players. I have NEVER received an "out-of-office" email from a pharma company! It shouts to me "We don't care very much about you." A pharma company should NEVER send an "out-of-office" reply! First of all such messages may end up ignored or, as in my case, get caught up in spam filters and never seen!

BI Ignores My Privacy Concerns and May Violate COPPA
Another point I made to John Pugh was that the Syrum site does not include a privacy policy or even a privacy statement! The "out-of-office" email message also does not include a link to a privacy statement, although there IS a link to an unsubscribe function/form.

The Syrum site also may violate US and other laws regarding Web sites that may be intended for or used by children under the age of 13 (eg, The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)). These laws do NOT allow collection of personally-identifiable information from children without the consent of parents. Since Syrum is a game site that John Pugh says is intended for "everyone," then it is also intended for kids.

I hope that BI will fix these problems as soon as it reads this post. Consider this my first beta test report!

Update (31 Oct 2011): I am happy to report that BI -- after reading this blog post -- has added this notice to the bottom of the Syrum Game promo screen: "Data collected form this web page will not be passed on to third parties. It will not be used for any other purpose than to contact you regarding your request or comment. All data will be deleted upon your request or as soon as they are no longer needed in order to contact you regarding your request or comment."

However, there is still the issue of collecting personally-identifiable information from children. BI needs, at least, to add a statement such as "This site is not intended for use by children under the age of 13."

Humana's iPhone/iPad "Games for Health": Would You Pay $2.99 to Play?

My Twitter pal @skypen (aka Fabio Gratton) keeps me up to date regarding innovative health apps and games developed by pharmaceutical and other healthcare companies. Today he tweeted:

"Humana develops health game for iPhone http://bit.ly/biQKlQ"

"Besides developing original games for health," said Paul Puopolo, leader of Humana’s Games for Health, "[we] partner with game developers who are open to new business models to offer unique video games that can improve health and wellness."

That's an interesting goal for an iPhone app worthy of further investigation. So I went to the Humana Games for Health Web site and found this promo for the Humana iPhone game app called "Colorfall":

This is a game similar to Tetris. The objective is to arrange and eliminate cascading color squares before the screen fills up. How does this game "improve health and wellness?" Well, you are prompted to get up off your behind and use the iPhone to photograph colorful objects such as a butter dish (shown below):

The app uses the dominant color in the photo to alter the color of squares, which can help you win the game.

In other words, this game improves health and wellness by encouraging you to move around. Huh? Usually, I play games when I'm stuck in the middle seat of an airplane and not able to move around. If I were at home and went into my fridge looking for colorful foods, I might just pause the game and have a snack. Butter, hmmmmm...

Anyway, Colorfall looks like a game worth trying. But I will never download it because Humana has the nerve to charge $2.99! I asked Fabio: "Why would I pay $2.99 for these games from Humana - an insurance company with $bn in assets????" To which Fabio replied: "i agree. Should be free. Who will pay? Probably Pharma cos and competitors to learn/see what others are doing."

If you are working for a pharma company and thinking of developing iPhone or iPad game apps, I doubt you would want to charge people $2.99. People hate the pharma industry about as much as they hate insurance companies and are sure not to pay. So it's a mystery to me why Humana charges people a fee for this game, especially if they believe it will improve the health of the people covered by their plans and thus lower their costs.

A better business model for game apps is to offer free games that include motivational messages or links to useful information as part of the game.