• Client Testimonials

Risky Business –
The Pharmaceutical Industry Boardgame

A highly stimulating programme on pharmaceutical R&D and BD&L in the form of a boardgame called Risky Business.
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Decision Analysis in Pharmaceutical R&D

Courses for R&D portfolio managers and R&D project leaders and teams to improve strategic decision making.
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Customised Progammes

We tailor existing courses on strategy and decision analysis or create new courses for specific training needs.
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Read client testimonials on our consulting business Catenion

Client Testimonials

Catenion Academy courses improve the way pharmaceutical managers make complex investment decisions for R&D project and product portfolios.

Customised Programmes

"I have worked with Catenion on several occasions — from an in–depth assessment of our ethical pipeline, to health–economic analyses, to a customised training for my executive team by The Catenion Academy. The Catenion team always focused on our specific needs as a family–owned business while providing the perspective of large pharmaceutical corporations. Their insights had great impact on our internal discussions and development."

M. Germano Giuliani
President & CEO
Giuliani S.p.A.

Decision Analysis

"Great training: just the right balance of background theory and an in−depth, hands−on case study. Catenion helped us both with their consulting team to develop a portfolio process and review, and then the Catenion Academy was instrumental to ensure implementation."

Dr. Ulrich Betz
Department Head
Strategic Innovation & Research Portfolio Management
Merck Serono

Risky Business

We have now included the Risky Business Workshop format in different settings and for various occasions. Each time it has been a success with participants whether for communications, country managers or even for students and others not necessarily from within the pharmaceutical industry. The Catenion Academy has been able to take complex ideas and make them understandable and has tailored this information to the different levels of knowledge and interest of our audiences. Overall the group interaction is quite important, but for me it is the content of the interspersed topical presentations that really drives the ideas home and make the workshop complete. Catenion has also proved to be up to the task of managing both small and large events. I have been impressed by the response.

Dr. Lukas Pfister
Executive Director Public Policy Europe and Canada
MSD (Europe) Inc.

At our 6th Annual Autumn Assembly, nearly 200 of our members had the chance to play Risky Business. It was a resounding success. It was a super way for students from some 26 different countries to get to know each other and learn a lot about their current field of studies. The group included everything from first–year students to recent graduates. It was challenging, but also showed more dimensions of the industry than the students normally see just in the classroom. The logistics of such a large event were daunting, but The Catenion Academy's staff was very professional and the planning and coordination were wonderful. I played this game myself and what impressed me was that I was learning and having fun at the same time. I believe this is the best way of learning. I hope we can work again with the Catenion Academy in the near future.

Tomaso Piaggio, M. Pharm
President 2009/2010
EPSA – European Pharmaceutical Students' Association

"As a Biotech Cluster Development organization, one of the purposes of Bio^M is to be the first point of contact for start-ups and outside firms in the life science sector. The Risky Business workshop was a wonderful way to facilitate this and bring people together from different professional affiliations with common interests in a very collaborative way. Within the format of a Business Development forum the game connected people from many different companies who then shared ideas regarding industry problems and solutions. Risky Business proved to be an interactive way to open up dialogue between companies and institutions of our Biotechnology Cluster."

Dr. Stephanie Wehnelt
Manager Marketing & Communication
Bio^M Biotech Cluster Development GmbH

"Risky Business is an engaging workshop format for strategic dimensions of the pharmaceutical industry. It is at the same time a team event, a competitive challenge and most importantly a highly relevant programme. The game provided our researchers with a hands–on experience of R&D, Business Development & Licensing as well as executive level decision making."

PD Dr. Florian Gantner
Head of Department Pulmonary Research
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG

"Risky Business is a great way to get a hands–on experience on strategies and risk of clinical development in the pharmaceutical industry in a very short amount of time. It is quite realistic with close reference to the actual pharmaceutical industry key figures for R&D and BD&L processes, timelines, costs, success and failure. The seminar gives insight into why drug development is often so difficult and problematic, while at the same time also giving some insights into how to confront these challenges through deal making and improved decision making. Risky Business is a fun, interactive and productive way to work on team–building and for varied groups to look at their work in a more comprehensive way."

Priv.–Doz. Dr. med. Axel Glasmacher
Medical Director
Celgene GmbH

"The ‘Risky Business Game’ is an enjoyable simulation of drug development and marketing. Demanding skills like strategic thinking, teamwork and evaluation of business risks, it realistically mimics the portfolio management situation of the pharmaceutical industry. In a relaxed atmosphere it trains the player for process analysis and decision-making, based on real facts. It is a valuable experience that helps one understand the complex nature of processes used every day in the Pharma business."

Dr. Ulrike Fortmüller
Medical Communication
Urban & Vogel GmbH

"An excellent and interactive way of explaining how the Pharma Business is operating. Also for newcomers, “Risky Business” provides good insights into the exciting and fast changing, “risky” daily life in our industry. Quickly the participants from Regulatory Affairs, Quality, Pharmacovigilance, Medical Affairs and Clinical Research began to realize how difficult it can be to make the right strategic decisions in Business Development and Portfolio Management.

Moreover, it is an ideal tool for teambuilding purposes. Interaction within the teams and communication starts immediately. You really get to know your colleagues and co–workers when you play on a very realistic foundation. The competitive nature of the game inspired the players and induced a lot of "creative" thinking how to maximize their profits."

Dr. Thomas D. Bethke, MD, MBA, FFPM
University Lecturer
Medical Director
Nycomed Deutschland GmbH

"Risky Business leads participants through the multifaceted process of drug development and enables them to understand it much more effectively and profoundly than any power–point presentation possibly could. It’s demanding – and fun."

Dr. Claudia Walther
Managing Director
Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds
Stiftung für medizinische Grundlagenforschung

"Risky Business Game is an exciting, hands–on way of teaching how the pharmaceutical industry operates. Participants quickly arrive at life–like situations that they have to handle immediately. Playing the game puts their job function in a larger perspective, whether they come from R&D, Business Development, Regulatory Affairs, Production or Marketing. It supports the understanding of top–level strategic decisions and improves the participants' ability to participate in corporate business processes."

Mogens Qvist Frandsen
Education Manager
LIF – The Danish Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry

"The Risky Business board game is fantastic. As a professional working in pharmaceutical portfolio management, the most valuable aspect of the game for me was experiencing through play the discomfort arising from the high risk inherent in the industry. In the short–term you become biased in favour of certain ‘good’ projects and in the long–term you experience ‘good’ projects that fail and ‘bad’ ones that succeed in becoming your ‘bread & butter’.

Whether you are a seasoned portfolio professional or not – once this appreciation of risk takes hold, I see that people make better decisions in the game. I strongly believe these learnings translate into the real world, better equipping the participants to make and/or understand strategic decisions when back on the job."

Claus Due Ponsaing
Senior Portfolio Manager
Strategic Marketing
H. Lundbeck A/S