How Does Pharma Function?
As a graduate student, I was accustomed to conducting my research from beginning to end. I ordered the experimental mice and injected them with a vaccine. I then harvested the relevant tissues for my experiment, processed and stained the cells, and ran the samples at the flow cytometer. I also analyzed the data, drafted the manuscript, gathered feedback from all co-authors, and formatted it for submission.
In pharma, I found that there are people who are specialized in and responsible for doing tasks that I might have done in the past. I learned that getting a drug from the bench to a patient requires so many hands to be on deck - more hands than I had ever imagined. The organization of these people and their work is typically by function. These functions or departments can exist within the pharma company, or the work may be outsourced if there is no in-house resource.
Have you ever wondered what some of those functions do? Here is a list of some that you might come across. It is by no means a comprehensive list, and keep in mind that some companies will call the functions by different names. We will feature perspectives of women working in these different functions and their career journeys.
- Antibody or Small Molecule Generation
- Biomarker/Translational Research
- Business Operations
- Clinical Data Management
- Clinical Science
- Data Science (see also: Q&A With Real World Insights Intern)
- Diagnostics
- Discovery
- Health Economics/Outcomes Research
- Marketing
- Medical Affairs
- Medical Communications
- Medical Science Liaison
- Manufacturing
- Regulatory Science
- Sales (see also: Guide for Getting Your First Pharmaceutical Sales Job)
- Safety Science
- Statistical Programming Analysts
- Project Management
- Quality
Don't see your function represented? Would you like to contribute your perspective? Please contact us.
Photo by Hans-Peter Gauster