School of Pharmacy

Overview

The global pharmaceutical industry has experienced substantial change in recent years. Industry leaders must now understand how discoveries in science and technology translate to business opportunities within the pharmaceutical industry, whether in discovery, manufacturing, marketing and medicines supply and control. The employment market  is becoming more challenging and this programme meets the need of the industry by producing graduates who are well-qualified in all aspects of the relevant applied sciences, who have well-developed key employability skills, and who also have significant knowledge and understanding of and insight into business and management – so you get more than just training in the core pharmaceutical sciences.

The key to this is in the excellence of the underpinning science and its relevant application to global industrial challenges, leading to the preparation of our graduates in becoming key, well qualified members and potential leaders of Pharmaceutical Management, Drug Development, Drug Discovery, Regulatory Affairs and Business Development teams within the industry.

At Keele we pride ourselves on the applicability of our degrees to the work environment graduates are entering into. The course structure and ethos have been designed to ensure that you will hit the ground running, giving you the subject and industry knowledge and transferable skills so that you can make an immediate contribution to your employer or indeed your own company.

Throughout the course you will study modules shared with the MPharm students, ensuring a clinically relevant contextualisation of the underpinning science. You will also participate in the same discussion forums as the MPharm students and be eligible to attend the Masterclass Lecture Programme hosted by the Keele School of Pharmacy. You will also have the same excellent mentoring and tutorial support structures as the MPharm and postgraduate students.

Course Content

At Keele we continue to monitor carefully the environment and how our degrees should develop, keeping our course relevant and fully up to date both in its scientific and business content.

This course covers the main aspects of pharmaceutical discovery and development, product formulation, manufacture and quality assurance assessment, and explains how such pure and applied sciences fit into global business, legal and regulatory frameworks. This includes elements of clinical development and the role of the pharmaceutical scientist within the industry team that take a drug from research to the clinic.

As part of the preparation to enter the global pharmaceutical industry, in the first year you will take a language module in English (business or academic orientated depending on fluency levels) or a modern foreign language for those fluent in English. This will ensure you have both a language and cultural understanding of nations outside your home country. As an extracurricular activity, you can apply to further your language skills at Keele through the Language Learning Unit in years 2 and 3

Content also involves sessions which contribute to the Distinctive Keele Curriculum

Year 1

The first year of the programme adopts an integrated approach to developing your knowledge of the physical and life sciences, alongside coupled modules that are rich in business content and provide essential skills for entering the global business environment.

You will study these modules:

• Essential Topics in Pharmaceutical Science
• Core Topics in Pharmaceutical Science I
• Core Topics in Pharmaceutical Science II
• Language Module (Language Learning Unit)
• The Business of Drug Discovery

Year 2

As the programme progresses your knowledge and understanding of the sciences will be applied in the key areas of chemistry and pharmaceutical analysis, pharmacology and drug action, and pharmaceutics and formulation science, whilst your business acumen will be developed in the core business and management module ‘Pharmaceutical Business Development’ through interactions with leading practitioners from the industrial arena. Students will begin to see the value of networking within the business environment and this may lead to experiential learning opportunities, encouraged by the School.

The Applications of Pharmaceutical Science modules are enriched by a comprehensive fully-formed programme of laboratory classes, and additional practical exercises reinforce the key concepts in product design and formulation.

You will study these modules:

• Applications of Pharmaceutical Science I
• Applications of Pharmaceutical Science II
• Pharmaceutical Business Development

Year 3

The final year provides you with the opportunity to specialize in pharmaceutical science topics of particular interest to you, alongside undertaking an extended research project at the cutting-edge of the pharmaceutical sciences. Contemporary business leadership and management aspects specific to the pharmaceutical industry are covered, including contemporaneous accounts of regulatory affairs, global financial modelling and emergence of new markets.

You will study these modules:

• Pharmaceutical Science Research Project
• Current Developments in Pharmaceutical Science
• Advanced Topics in Pharmacology and Pharmaceutics
• The Pharmaceutical Industry at the Cutting Edge

Codes and Combinations

UCAS Code: 1B11

 The course will be single honours and cannot be combined with any other course offered

Teaching and Assessment

Our course will not just be delivered by our university internal experts but also by external speakers with significant experience and leadership across the breadth of the pharmaceutical industry.

Teaching methods will include traditional and interactive lectures, laboratory work, workshops, tutorials, individual and group presentations.

Assessment will be a mixture of examinations, written and oral reports, laboratory skills assessments as practical skills assessments.

Programme specifications (new window)

Skills and Careers

The model of the pharmaceutical industry is undergoing considerable change. “Me too” products (incremental improvements to existing products), even with significant enhancements, may not be commercially viable in the medium- to long-term. Pricing of new products, and subsequent market access, is becoming even more difficult. In today’s marketplace the major companies are looking for more and more innovation from outside their own laboratories. AstraZeneca, to take one example, have stated publicly that, moving forward, they expect to buy 40% of their science externally from third-party providers and partners. Merck and Pfizer are stating that they will no longer be looking for “mega-mergers”; rather, their growth will be from small product deals or the acquisition of smaller enterprises. In this environment global pharmaceutical research scientists and business professionals are, today, going to be more involved in the evaluation of scientific data and the business case involved in new science acquisition.

At Keele we aim to ensure that our students leave with a significant awareness of how to operate in this environment and understand the contribution of each function, within the industry, to bringing a new molecule from research to the market.

This course will also provide management training, significant detail and awareness of the Strategic Partnering and Business Development skills essential for this environment.

We pride ourselves on the applicability of our degrees to the work environment graduates are entering into. The course structure and ethos has been designed to ensure that you will hit the ground running, giving you the subject and industry knowledge and transferable skills so that you can make immediate contribution to your employer or indeed your own company.

Visit our Careers pages (new window)

Course Information

Dr Tony Curtis

Tel: 01782 733040

Email:  a.d.m.curtis@keele.ac.uk

UK/EU Admissions Tel: (01782) 734005 Email: admissions.ukeu@keele.ac.uk

International Admissions Tel: +44(0) 1782 733274 Email: international@keele.ac.uk

If you are an overseas international student you can apply direct by filling in the below form and submit to International Admissions

BSc Pharmaceutical Science - International Application Form 2013