Pharmacists around the world are playing immense roles in the growth of Clinical Research. Some does contribute as a part of their profession and a few are passionate about their behind the scenes role.

1. Behind the Scenes, Role Of Pharmacists In Clinical Research
Pharmacists around the world are playing immense roles in the growth of Clinical Research. Some
does contribute as a part of their profession and a few are passionate about their behind the scenes
role.
Such passionate pharmacist is Michelle Foust ; she doesn't dispense pills at the corner pharmacy but
she distributes them worldwide. Foust is the director of new product development at Almac Group,
a multinational company that packages and distributes experimental drugs for clinical trials.
Behind the scenes, Foust and other pharmacists help coordinate the research and development
process that brings new medication from the laboratory to the road corner pharmacy.
Foust in her career is most of pharmacists fill in a research setting instead of in the much more
familiar retail setting. Although pharmacists who pursue research careers are still a minority, their
ranks are expanding quickly within the pharmaceutical industry and the multitude of organizations
developing and testing novel compounds.
Opportunities are Abound
Pharmacists occupy a variety of roles within Clinical Research Organizations and Labs; some
designing phase I trials, others occupying executive-level management positions. Still other
pharmacists work as clinical research associates in late-phase clinical trials, traveling to investigator
sites to oversee compliance with research protocols and investigating adverse drug events and
safety concerns.

2. Some pharmacists and their companies give presentations at pharmacy schools to raise awareness of
the growing career opportunities for pharmacists in clinical research. Often clinical research officers
or project managers typically write protocols, choose investigators and study sites. They also
monitor clinical trials, collect and analyze trial data, report adverse events, and write and publish
clinical-study reports. Within the clinical research enterprise, pharmacists often move into
leadership positions in drug-development studies. But because the work is behind the scenes, few
pharmacists hear about these job opportunities.
In addition, a number of pharmacists are working as consultants to biotechnology or small
pharmaceutical companies that have a promising compound and are trying to design the first
clinical protocol to test the compound's safety in human subjects.
Bridging the gap in drug information
Individuals trained in the field of pharmacy are in the exact position to bridge the gap between the
pool of gnomic informations becoming available and the goal of personalized medications.
On taking a look at the pharmagnetic information there is a tremendous need for clinical
pharmacologists, and the only group that will be able to fill that gap is pharmacists. Pharmacy has
to meet that challenge. They have to be better trained in general science in order to do the
pharmagenetics that is out there.
Douglas Figg, a pharmacist points out that his laboratory recently completed a study using a DNA
chip that can rapidly profile 1243 single-nucleotide polymorphisms in 163 genes involved in drug
metabolism and transport using a single DNA sample. This vast amount of data is soon going to be
available on each patient who would interpret and modify therapies based on this information?
In words of Figg, it won't be physicians. Fewer than a dozen physicians train to become clinical
pharmacologists each year. However, pharmacists are perfectly poised to bridge the knowledge gap
between laboratory data, and opportunities for them in clinical practice are only going to expand.
The profession of pharmacy has a lot to offer!
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