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Asked by to Amy, Anita, Daryl, Nimesh, Sandra on 24 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
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Anita Thomas answered on 24 Jun 2014:
@hannahgrimes, I like your questions! But some of them are hard.
Do you want to get into drug development from an industry perspective (ie work for a drug company) or do you want to do research into developing new drugs? Drug development research in Universities needs a basic degree, but you will probably get much further with a PhD. This is where drugs are invented, new pathways investigated, and the drugs tested in cultured cells and in animal models. A lot of pharmaceutical and toxicological testing is done here.
People who work for industry often get started immediately after obtaining a degree in science (which degree depends on which aspect of work you want). Industry is very much geared up to taking drugs that have been tested by Uni scientists and making sure that the manufacture techniques of the drug are optimised and appropriate. Sometimes the University may be paid for the drug being made available to the Pharmaceutical Company. Sometimes the researcher may retain part of the patent. The drug company then has the task of performing all of the Clinical trials – and these are very expensive. They are not usually performed ‘in house’ ie not by the drug company itself.Hope that this helps,
Anita.
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Daryl Jones answered on 24 Jun 2014:
Hi hannahgrimes!
The best way is to take biology and chemistry in school, along with maths, and then take a science degree at university- preferably a biomedical degree! After that, you may want to do a Masters and a PhD, once you get that far, you’ll EASILY get a career in drug development!
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Amy Monaghan answered on 25 Jun 2014:
Hi Hannah
As Daryl and Anita have covered – science GCSEs and A-levels are the key here, followed by a chemistry or biology/biomedical degree at university. It won’t really matter what you specialise in here, the courses you choose might be influenced by the diseases you’re most interested. Pharmacology is a really good course for drug discovery because it really focuses on drug action.
You can also do courses that offer a year in industry which is a really good way to get experience, and possibly a job offer, for when you finish your course at university. Quite often people can then go and work for drug companies straight after their degree, or they’ll go and do a masters/PhD by research to specialise more and carry on with drug development in either academia or as a manager in a pharmaceutical company. There’s lots of ways to do it, you just have to find the one that’s best for you!
Comments
hannahgrimes commented on :
Thanks everyone for answering!! @anita probably more researching new drugs, although not really sure!
Anita commented on :
I think you’re right Hannah, I suspect that I’ve looked at/am looking at a wider range of drugs and treatments that Amy and Daryl. But that is probably because I’ve been working in so many different fields (and nothing to do with working for longer full stop. Of course not).