Pharmaceutical Industry

The pharmaceutical industry provides many career opportunities for pharmacists in a variety of areas including drug discovery, product development, information technology, training and development, scientific communications, health outcomes research, regulatory affairs, professional affairs, medical information services, and clinical research. Within the area of medical information services, the pharmacist participates in typical types of activities such as answering drug information questions, reporting and monitoring ADRs, and providing information support to other departments. Other positions in medication information services include disease specialist, health outcomes associate, labeling associate, and medical or scientific writer. Pharmacists providing medication information in the pharmaceutical industry may also provide support for individuals responsible for drug formularies or participate in quality improvement efforts with the medication use process. In addition to providing written information on the drug product produced by the manufacturer, there are opportunities to provide additional information at pharmacy and therapeutics committees or state drug use review (DUR) boards. Pharmaceutical companies have extensive scientific data on their products; some of which are not available through other published sources or may require a formal FOI (freedom of information) request. Medication information specialists may also serve as reviewers for journal articles, evidence-based guidelines, and published drug monographs. Medication information specialists may interact with sales and marketing, participate with regulatory affairs issues, and handle product complaints.

Pharmacists with specialized training can take a leadership role in evaluating current research, helping to manage ongoing research, or designing studies to help answer questions about new indications for future use of the product. The impact of new medications on the health care environment is also felt within the pharmaceutical industry. The area of health outcomes research is fairly new and growing and offers tremendous opportunity for pharmacists to share their knowledge of the health care environment, research design, technology, and economics from the perspective of the pharmaceutical industry. As the sophistication of drug products and information management (e.g., electronic new drug applications [NDAs]) has increased, so have the opportunities for pharmacists to practice in the pharmaceutical industry and focus on using the skills of a medication information specialist.