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Careers in Pharmaceutical Research and Development

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Discovering a new medicine is like solving one of life's great mysteries so a career in Pharmaceutical Research and Development (R&D) is certainly going to lead to an interesting and rewarding life.

UK scientists have earned an international reputation by discovering and developing nearly 20% of the worlds top medicines such as the famous 'Viagra'¹, 'Avandia'² for treatment of Type II diabetes and 'Zoladex'³ for treatment of prostate cancer. The UK pharmaceutical industry invested £3.95 billion in UK research and development (R&D) in 2006 and employs 73,000 which accounts for 27.6% of all UK R&D spend. Successful pharmaceutical R&D researchers need a good education in the core engineering, physical and biological sciences.

Dr David Hollinshead is an Associate Director in AstraZeneca R&D at its Alderley Park, Cheshire site. 'A majority of graduate recruits come to AstraZeneca with a degree in chemistry. A straight chemistry degree course is more likely to give better grounding in the fundamental knowledge and understanding of the chemical sciences, which is necessary for routine science 'problem solving' in drug discovery. The majority of degree courses permit specialisation in the final year, to allow the student a deeper knowledge in areas of interest to them. For a similar reason, I would usually advise single sciences at A-level to help assimilate these fundamentals more quickly.'

In choosing degree courses, David offers other advice. 'If you want to work on practical research in a laboratory setting, then strongly consider degree courses featuring a year in industry. You get first hand experience of science as a career, as well as gaining valuable skills. What's more, the student gets to make a productive contribution to projects once suitably trained.' AstraZeneca supports over 100 such placements each year in chemistry, engineering and the biological sciences.

We also spoke to Theresa Humphries, who is a recently appointed Research Chemist in AstraZeneca R&D at its Charnwood site near Loughborough, Leicestershire.

How long have you worked with AstraZeneca and what's your education background?

I've been working as a chemist in Discovery since 2003. I graduated from Leicester University in July 2002 with a MChem degree in chemistry. This was after I took A-levels in chemistry, physics and maths at Kettering 6th Form College. During my undergraduate third year, I undertook a year in industry with AstraZeneca, at the same site as I now work.

What influenced your choice of degree subject and university?

I had always wanted to use chemistry in a practical way. Leicester University was attractive to me as it was close to my home in Kettering, but not so close that I would be living at home. The department and university both had a good reputation, and importantly offered the Mchem course with a year in industry.

Theresa Humphries, Research Chemist AstraZeneca

Presumably the year in industry strongly influenced your career choice?

Yes! The industry placement really enthused me about the drug discovery process and particularly the variety of chemistry reactions and procedures that this involved. It also helped as I had impressed AstraZeneca sufficiently for them to offer me a job at the end of my degree!

What does your job typically involve?

I'm involved in designing and carrying out sequences of reactions, which may ultimately lead to the identification of new drug molecules. This requires a substantial repertoire of practical chemistry and analytical techniques. I get involved in solving problems such as 'Have I made what I expected, and if not, what is it?' and 'How can I make this chemistry work better?' A large part of the job requires me to liaise with biologists, analysts and other scientists.

Have you received any continued scientific / non-scientific training?

Since joining AstraZeneca I have received plenty of 'on the job' technical training. As an example, I have become a 'super-user' for our recently developed Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN). I recently communicated my research as a presentation at a recent national meeting for Young Chemists in Industry, which seemed formidable at first but very worthwhile.

What do you think of your job now?

Working in chemistry is a lot of fun - I love the practical hands-on nature of the job. Equally, I value what I do because it may benefit society as well as being something I enjoy doing. The science of chemistry is constantly evolving with the discovery of new molecules, which may one day improve the health and quality of life of patients. With the experiences and support AstraZeneca is able to offer me, I'm looking forward to a fulfilling career as a Discovery chemist.

David Hollinshead provides other considerations for students when selecting degree choices and future careers. 'If you have an inquiring mind, and don't take everything for granted, then you are likely to find a career in science interesting and stimulating. Science careers can also be financially rewarding. Taking chemistry as an example, graduates can expect higher earnings over a lifetime than other graduates, except law and medicine. Be careful though about measuring starting salaries against other careers, as chemistry graduate salaries tend to substantially pull away from their counterparts after age 30yrs. Moreover, chemistry offers a passport into many other careers, as we find within AstraZeneca, and so in addition it gives substantial career flexibility'.

Factfile: AstraZeneca

AstraZeneca is a leading international pharmaceutical company based in the UK. It occupies a Top 10 employer (5* rating) in the 'Graduate's Guide to Best Work-Life Balance Employers in Britain' - an independent benchmarking survey by Robertson & Cooper Consultancy and the Work-Life Balance Trust. The company is engaged in the discovery of innovative medicines that make a meaningful difference to patients. Graduate chemist starting salaries at AstraZeneca are £23.5 - 26.5k pa depending upon age and experience.

1 'Viagra' is a trademark of Pfizer Products Inc;
2 'Avandia' is a trademark of the GSK group of companies;
3 'Zoladex' is a trademark of the AstraZeneca group of companies.