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Science is used in every aspect of Research and Development - genetics, chemistry, molecular biology and pharmacology are used to discover new medicines; toxicology, metabolic sciences and pharmacy to develop medicines.
All work is ultimately designed to answer the 4 basic questions about a potential new medicine:
To research, develop and supply new medicines to treat human disease. The aim is to develop products which improve patient's health, save lives and enhance the quality of life. To do it safely and effectively and to make a medicine for which there is a real market need.
Most of the scientific staff working in Research and Development have scientific or computing degrees ("graduates"). Many have a PhD and have high level research and problem solving experience.
Their roles are many and varied, but in very general terms experience graduates and most of those with a PhD will be supervising less experienced staff and some will lead research teams. The more experienced scientists will tend to do the more complex and cutting edge science whilst less experienced ones (such as fairly new graduates) will tackle the more straightforward tasks.
It is important to realise that a lack of formal qualifications does not stop a scientist progressing in their career. There are heads of departments and directors without PhDs. It is experience, skill and ability that count.
Discovering new drugs is a very "high tech" process and the science that pharmaceutical companies do is expensive. They need to do multiple experiments a day and many of these are very repetitive. They therefore use robotics extensively as these systems are more effective and more efficient than using human technicians. Companies do not have technicians making up standard solutions - they buy them ready made.
Companies tend not to have technicians running spectra or doing routine analyses - they use robotics or occasionally contract the work out. It is actually cheaper for a big business to buy ready made services than to employ a "technician". Some companies will take on a young scientist without a degree but the aim is for them to develop their skills rapidly, probably study for a part time degree and progress in their scientific career.
Most of the science carried out in Research and Development is at the cutting edge. Most scientists interface their experiments with IT systems for running them, monitoring them and collecting and analysing results. Chemical analytical systems include state of the art high performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry as well as nuclear magnetic resonance. Many of these processes are developed within the company. Molecular biologists use automated polymerase chain reaction (PCR) equipment. Robotics are used routinely to make repetitive processes more effective and more efficient.
These are two terms that are easily confused partly due to the way they are used in the popular press. For example most drugs are quite legal - only a very few are illegal. A drug is the "active ingredient". It is the chemical which brings about a biological effect. A medicine is what the patient actually takes or uses. For example a capsule for a headache is a medicine. It may contain the drug paracetamol plus some inert material which acts as a bulking agent, a colour perhaps and a gelatin coat. An asthma inhaler is a medicine. It may contain the drug salbutamol plus a propellant, an aluminium canister containing sealing washers and a plastic holder. It is quite common for some medicines to contain more than one drug.
Predominantly organic chemicals - all chemicals are regarded as having a harmful hazard. By definition the products of our research interact with biological systems. Although the hazards may be high, the risks are low since full risk assessments are carried out before work starts.
This is carried out to the highest possible standard. If the work is regarded as being too risky an alternative procedure is considered or the work not started. The work is covered by the Health and Safety at Work Act. There is a lot more information in the Safety at Work module.
A risk assessment is carried out on every experiment and procedure before it is started. Suitable protective clothing is always worn - for example safety spectacles, gloves and laboratory coats for all standard laboratory operations.
The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, makes and sells medicines.
The best known pharmaceutical companies include GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and AstraZeneca, but there are hundreds more. Some companies have research & development and manufacturing sites in the UK, others may just have head offices here.
Over 70,000 people work in the pharmaceutical industry in the UK. Many are scientists, mainly chemists, biologists and pharmacists, others are engineers or manufacturing operatives, or may have qualifications in IT, finance, law, marketing or other specialist fields.
It takes about 12 years for a new medicine to go through the tests that are required before it can be prescribed by doctors in the UK. During this time hundreds of different people are involved, and the medicine passes through a large number of tests. These are designed to check that the medicine will work in the disease it is intended for; and that it will be safe for people to take.
Yes, this is very important for a number of reasons. The method and results must be recorded clearly so that they can be repeated by other scientists, sometimes years later. All experimental notes must be clear so that Government Agencies can check on them if necessary when we apply for a licence to sell our new medicines. The experimental write-up is also a legal document that can be used to show what was invented when, and by whom - this can be crucial in patent disputes.
Every page in a notebook must be signed and dated. A full risk assessment is written before the experiment starts. Only a small amount of the work done gets published in scientific journals due to confidentiality reasons. This means that our science is not "peer reviewed" in the normal way as in academic science. However, scientists all check each others lab books weekly and at the end of a project the work gets "signed off" by a senior scientist. Although hard back notebooks have been used for many years, some companies are now starting to use electronic notebooks.