When I started pharmacy school back in 1988, I had a professor that emphasized the importance of the Doctor of Pharmacy degree and what it meant to him. He instilled in us that “No one will know more about drugs than the Pharm.D.” “We are the drug experts” he would always say. In fact, Pharm.D.s have multiple years of pharmacology experience, much greater than most MDs. During my 4th year of Pharmacy School, while I was doing an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) rotation, the attending physician, after having exhausted all he could do for a vancomycin-resistant patient who had a very difficult Staph hemolyticus infection, turned to me as a PharmD resident and said “Do you have any ideas how we can treat this person?” I remembered during my training that certain drugs have synergistic properties when given together. If you give vancomycin with rifampin together it will have a synergistic effect. Sure enough, the attending said go ahead give the combination and soon this drug combination had eradicated the organism and the person lived. This case report was my first publication and the first time I realized the significance of the knowledge that PharmDs possess and what role a clinical pharmacist can play in the management of patient care.

My professor also said that if we wanted to work in the pharmaceutical industry he would recommend an additional post-doctoral fellowship training to enhance our candidacy. Well, I took his advice and it worked. I have been in the pharmaceutical industry for over 17 years in the field of Clinical Research and Medical Affairs. I initially started in a Phase 1&2 Clinical Pharmacokinetics department as a Senior Clinical Research Associate and worked my way up to Vice-President of Clinical Research and Medical Affairs.

The current PharmD degree curriculum offers extensive didactic clinical preparation, a full year of hands-on practice experience in a wide array of healthcare settings, four years of pharmacology, extensive knowledge in pharmacokinetics and an emphasis on clinical pharmacy practice pertaining to pharmacotherapy. The PharmD is the expert in drug interactions, drug side effects, pharmacokinetics and based on the diagnosis, he/she can determine the exact drug or drugs to administer specifically for the patient.

This type of expertise is exactly what the pharmaceutical industry needs. Our industry is dedicated to discovering and developing new medicines. Who better to hire as an employee than a drug expert?! Someone who knows how these drugs work, how they interact with other drugs, how they are metabolized, and what patients will benefit from them! Not to mention that pharmacists consistently rank as one of the most trusted professionals in today's society. These are the values that a pharmacist brings to the pharmaceutical industry!

Through the course of my pharmaceutical industry career, I collaborated with essentially every department within the pharmaceutical company.Most of these departments have pharmacists working in them, including marketing, market research, pharmacovigilance, clinical development, clinical research, medical communications, medical information, medical affairs, regulatory affairs, business development and competitive intelligence.

Pharmacists/PharmDs are more equipped than ever to work in a pharmaceutical company. There is literally no limit to the positions a pharmacist can hold within the industry. Pharmaceutical training, expertise, and ethical reputation make today’s pharmacist an ideal contributor to the pharmaceutical industry.

Authored by

Paul Mastoridis, PharmD
Worldwide Brand Medical Director
Cystic Fibrosis, Devices & eHealth Solutions
Respiratory Franchise
Global Medical Affairs
Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation