A Career in the Pharmaceutical Sciences

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A Career in the Pharmaceutical Sciences

• Unlimited Potential

• Sponsored by the American Association of
  Pharmaceutical Scientists

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What are the Pharmaceutical Sciences?

• The pharmaceutical sciences combine a broad range
  of scientific disciplines that are critical to
  the discovery and development of new drugs and
  therapies.

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Drug Discovery and Design

• Taxol Synthesis-Science Saving Lives

3D model of a Taxol molecule
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Drug Delivery
EIGHT HOURS OF INSULIN ACTIVITY FROM A SINGLE
OCULAR INSERT
Recent research findings from the University of
Arizona
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Drug Delivery
Nicotine patch used to help people stop smoking
Cross-sectional diagram of a nicotine patch
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Drug Action
Drugs entering a cell via several different
mechanisms
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Pharmacokinetics and Drug Metabolism
GRAPEFRUIT JUICE MAY HAVE POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS
INTERACTIONS WITH MULTIPLE MEDICATIONS
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Pharmacokinetics and Drug Metabolism
WHEN MEDICATIONS ARE USED TOGETHER, THE DRUG
EFFECTS MAY CHANGE
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Drug Analysis
A research assistant readying an analytical
system for drug analysis
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Cost Effectiveness of Medicines
The economic impact of pharmacy care
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Education/Training Options

• B.S./M.S. in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chemistry,
  Biology, Mathematics, Biomedical Engineering,
  Information Technology, or related field
• Pharm.D.
• Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences

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Career Prospects

• Pharmaceutical Industry - for all degree levels
• Research Laboratories - for all degree levels
• Teaching/Research in Academics - Ph.D. or
  Pharm.D.
• Regulatory Agencies - for all degree levels

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Mean Base Annual Salaries Overall (x 1000)
Industry Academia Government
Ph.D. 97.6 95.1 81.4
(Based on 2001 AAPS Salary Survey)
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Mean Base Annual Salaries by Experience (x
1000)
0 5 yrs. 5 10 yrs. 10 20 yrs. 20 30 yrs. gt 30 yrs.
B.S. 48.5 56.0 72.0 80.0 85.0
M.S. 55.0 58.0 76.0 100.0 106.0
Ph.D. 72.0 87.0 108.0 120.0 120.5
(Based on 2001 AAPS Salary Survey)
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Is a Career in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Right
for Me?

• It certainly is if
• You enjoy science classes and want to pursue a
  science-based career.
• You desire to contribute to the health and
  well-being of society through the development of
  medicines and therapies.

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Contact Information

• American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists
  (AAPS)
• www.aaps.org
• 703-243-2800
• American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy
  (AACP)
• www.aacp.org
• 703-739-2330
• American Pharmaceutical Association (APhA)
• www.aphanet.org
• 202-628-4410
• Local Schools of Pharmacy

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Presentation Notes

• Slide3 - Drug Discovery and Design deals with the
  design and synthesis of new drug molecules. This
  category includes specialized fields of study
  such as medicinal chemistry, combinatorial
  chemistry and biotechnology. Taxol is a potent
  anti-cancer agent found in small amounts in the
  bark of the slow growing Pacific yew tree.
  Unfortunately the process that extracts the drug
  from the bark also kills the tree. One adult
  tree produces only 1 gram of this medication.
  Through the advances of medicinal chemistry, a
  way has been found to produce a taxol-like drug
  (Taxolene) from the needles of the European yew
  tree. This pharmaceutical breakthrough has
  greatly increasing the availability of this drug.
  
• Slide 4 -Drug Delivery is concerned with the
  design of dosage forms - such as tablets,
  injections or patches - that will deliver the
  drug in the right amount at the right time within
  a patient. The normal model of delivery of
  insulin to the patients is through multiple daily
  intramuscular or subcutaneous injections. To
  bridge the gap in the treatment of patients with
  diabetes, a variety of approaches have been
  attempted. A pharmaceutical lab at the University
  of Arizona is trying to develop a non-painful and
  an effective way of delivering insulin into the
  body. They have compared the reduction of plasma
  glucose levels following the use of eye drops
  and a newly formulated ocular insert. This graph
  illustrates that when the new ocular formulation
  was used, the reduction of glucose levels
  persisted for more than 8 hours. (Research
  conducted in Dr. Sam Yalkowskys laboratory,
  University of Arizona)
• Slide 5 - Another example of drug delivery
  research is the nicotine patch. Nicotine patches
  were developed to delivery nicotine through the
  skin. This type of system has been used
  effectively to help people quit smoking. (left
  scan PDR 1999 right scan Chien ed. Transdermal
  Controlled Systemic Medications. Marcel Dekker,
  Inc. New York 1987.)

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Presentation Notes

• Slide 6 - Drug Action examines how the drug
  itself actually works in a living system. The
  action of the drug can be studied at the
  molecular level, in a cell, an organ, and in
  animals. Specialty fields include molecular
  biology, pharmacology, pharmacodynamics,
  toxicology and biochemistry.
• Slide 7 - Pharmacokinetics and Drug Metabolism.
  This discipline examines the behavior of the drug
  in the body. Researchers in this discipline
  perform studies to examine the absorption,
  distribution, metabolism, and elimination of
  drugs and the kinetics of drug responses. An
  example of such research showed that grapefruit
  juice could have dangerous interactions with a
  number of medications. The study shown here has
  looked at the effect of grapefruit juice on the
  systemic exposure of a cholesterol-lowering
  agent, lovastatin. Grapefruit juice greatly
  increased the systemic exposure of lovastatin.
  This may increase the risk of skeletal muscle
  toxicity associated with lovastatin. The
  following warning label has been posted as a
  result of this type of research Avoid eating
  grapefruit and drinking grapefruit juice while
  being treated with the following medications
  CYCLOSPORINE, FELODIPINE, MIDAZOLAM, NIFEDIPINE,
  NISOLDIPINE, QUINIDINE, TERAZOSIN, TERFENADINE,
  TRIAZOLAM, LOVASTATIN, AND SIMVASTATIN. (Graph
  reproduced from Kantola et al. Clinical
  Pharmacology Therapeutics 1998 63397-402)
• Slide 8 - Pharmacokinetics and Drug Metabolism.
  Another example of this research area is
  examination of the interactions of medication
  when used concomitantly. Drug-drug interactions
  can cause unwanted adverse effects and/or reduce
  the effectiveness of the medications. Tamoxifen
  is a medication used to treat and prevent breast
  cancer. Rifampin is used in the treatment of
  patients with tuberculosis. The systemic
  exposure of tamoxifen measured as the area under
  the plasma concentration versus time curve was
  decreased significantly when coadministered with
  rifampin. This can reduce the efficacy of
  tamoxifen. (Graph reproduced from Kivisto et al.,
  Clinical Pharmacology Therapeutics 1998
  64648-654)

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Presentation Notes

• Slide 9 - Drug Analysis involves separating,
  identifying, and quantifying the components of a
  sample. Analytical chemistry is an important
  component of all areas of the pharmaceutical
  sciences.
• Slide 10 - Pharmacoeconomics examines the health
  and economic related outcomes of drug selection
  and patient management (e.g., quality of life,
  physician visits, potential hospitalization). An
  example of research in this discipline found that
  each year, avoidable medication-related problems
  cost the U.S. 76.5 billion in additional medical
  associate expenses. 45.6 billion of this
  unnecessary cost can be avoided by implementing
  proper pharmaceutical care, such as proper drug
  choice, proper use of the drug, and improving
  patient compliance.(Bootman JL, Johnson JA.
  Drug-related mortality and the economic impact of
  pharmaceutical care. Am J Hosp Pharm. 1997
  54554-558)
• Slide 12 - There are wide range of employment
  opportunities in the pharmacy sciences. The
  three major areas of employment are industry
  (drug manufactures), academia (universities), and
  the government (the FDA). This is the average
  salary breakdown for a pharmacy science Ph.D.
  (www.aaps.org/members/newsletter/dec98/salsurv.htm
  )
• Slide 13 - This is a slide on the average salary
  in different employment groups.
  (www.aaps.org/members/newsletter/dec98/salsurv.htm
  )
• Slide 14 - This is a slide on the average salary
  in industry broken down by degree type and years
  of experience. (www.aaps.org/members/newsletter/de
  c98/salsurv.htm)

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• American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists