When you think of prescription medications you may think of the pharmaceutical industry which is involved in researching and developing drugs and then bringing them to market. When you think of pharmacy, you probably think of the corner drugstore where the pharmacist dispenses those same pharmaceutical drugs. Naturally, you would think pharmacists work within the pharmaceutical industry, and they do. This post is to inform you on what these pharmacists do behind the scenes.
The pharmaceutical industry is often given a bad rap and in many cases it probably deserves the criticism it receives from watchdog groups. However, this post will try to balance those negative notions with some benefits of working within industry courtesy of an insider who graciously answered questions on Student Doctor Network forums. Let’s start with the various things an industry pharmacist can do:
A pharmacist can work in pharmacovigilance, marketing, new business development, sales, medical communication (this includes people in the home office, who write the master file for the drug, on which all the package inserts in all the different countries where it is sold are based), and clinical research (which can be entirely paperwork, or you can work very closely with the patients involved in clinical trials). There are also medical strategists who look at the whole market and try to come up with a way to position products, and regulatory affairs (working with the FDA).
The good news is that you can change your job function every two to four years until you find something you really enjoy and want to do for the rest of your career. Many companies encourage employees to float from function to function and from department to department.
In other words, if you can find your niche in industry you can settle down and do what you like. Or if you want to try lots of different things, the opportunities are there. What about the economic impact of the recession on the availability of pharmacist jobs within industry?
Over 50,000 jobs have been cut in the pharmaceutical industry in the last 15 months or so. Does it concern me? No. If you are a good employee and you know what you are doing, then you will either keep your job or it will not be too difficult to find another job. There always other positions opening up, even at the time the cuts are taking place. Also, as a pharmacist, you can always go back to retail while you are looking for a real job. Most positions cut now are either sales or positions supporting failing/expiring products; if you do your research before accepting a job offer, you are far less likely to be affected.
Keep in mind that everyone in the pharmaceutical industry faces the risk of being laid off in troubled times, but pharmacists are scientists which there will always be a need for within industry. Also as mentioned above, we as pharmacists have other choices for work as a backup plan.
Sometimes I do wonder whether I really need a Pharm.D. to do what I do (and I don’t), but it helps. The transferable skills we develop while going through pharmacy school (rather than specific bits of knowledge) are what counts. Occasionally I miss patient contact, but working retail or hospital pharmacy on the side a couple of days a month is always an option.
Something to note is that salaries generally start significantly lower for pharmacists in the industry, as compared to retail, and even hospital. However, the annual increases are greater, and eventual earning potential is greater.
There are many pharmacists who work in a hospital and moonlight at a Walgreens or CVS on the weekends. That flexibility is also available to those in industry if you’re worried about starting off with a lower income. On the other hand there’s no pay cap unlike retail where you may advance to a pharmacy manager role and then dead-end in that position (unless you want to transition into the corporate side of things).
The Pharmaceutical industry is generally concentrated on the coasts. Big Pharma (the traditional pharmaceutical powerhouses) is in the East, mainly concentrated in Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. The most notable exceptions are Eli Lilly in Indiana, Procter & Gamble in Ohio, and Abbott in Illinois. Biotechnology companies cluster mainly in California, but again there are plenty of exceptions. There are also field-based positions such as a sales representative or a medical science liaison who cover different parts of the country. So if you are unwilling to relocate but are willing to spend a significant amount of time on the road, this might be an option.
Here’s the catch: industry is clustered on the two coasts of the US. Fortunately, there are some pockets of activity in the Midwest as well as liaison positions which emphasize travel due to the nature of the job. Hopefully, this post is an eye-opener for interested students as well as professionals looking to reposition themselves away from non-conventional pharmacist work. I plan on continuing to post more profiles on pharmacy careers as a series so subscribe via RSS to keep up with the latest.
Note: The above quotes were edited for fluency and punctuation. See the original forum post for additional details.
One Comment
I think that is a good roundup of how the role can vary, also interesting to look at potential to expand on the role in comparison to the UK. I am not sure where I want my role to take me yet but I am open to opportunities as they arise, I am based in the UK, went to the University of Nottingham and learnt a lot. Luckily Boots, is based in Nottingham and after a speech from Ornella Barra I saw the potential for the role and how you can take it whereever you want, she started as a pharmacist and is now a chief exec at Boots. It really is a job that is diverse and can take you where ever you want, at this stage I think I will keep it small and not aim for chief exec but you never know what the future holds