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Career Focus: Chemistry and Pharmaceuticals
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The pharmaceutical industry is constantly growing as the need for new and improved drugs increases. Pharmaceutical companies employ chemists, chemical engineers, and chemical technologists to help develop new and better products. Chemistry is required for all stages of pharmaceutical development from synthesis, to scale up, and finally, in the quality control testing used to ensure the purity of pharmaceutical products.
Alison Paprica is a Ph.D. chemist with Astra Pharma Inc. of Mississauga, Ontario. Alison did not always know what she wanted to do as a career. One of her teachers started her thinking that "chemists viewed the world in terms of molecules interacting" that influenced her decision to pursue a career in chemistry. After graduating from high school, Alison went to McMaster University where she received a Combined Honours B.Sc. in Chemistry and Biochemistry in 1989 (4 years of study). Still wanting to pursue a chemical career, she entered into the Ph.D. program at the University of Western Ontario and in 1993 received her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry (about 4 years of study). Alison’s first job after obtaining her Ph.D. was working for the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly in Toronto, Ontario. She worked as an Analytical Chemist and performed HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography) analyses and method development to support the introduction of new pharmaceutical products. In 1994 Alison was offered the position with the newly formed Pharmaceutical Development Department at Astra Pharma.
Alison’s present position is that of Pharmaceutical Developmenet Specialist. Her job has two major parts: technical resource and research liaison. A technical resource part involves supporting Astra Pharma’s production including manufacturing and packaging. Apecialists look for ways to improve the efficiency of pharmaceutical processes and decrease the environmental impact of pharmaceutical testing. Their work involves experimenting with methods and procedures until the optimum one is found.
Consequently, a specialist can be involved in all parts of the development process from instrumentation, to products, and to packaging.
The research liaison job function involves looking for university research groups or research based companies that are interested in collaborating on projects. For example, Astra Pharma is collaborating with Allelix Biopharmaceuticals Inc. of Mississauga, Ontario, for the worldwide development and commercialization of Allelix’s lead experimental product PTH (recombinant human Parathyroid Hormone) for the treatment of osteoporosis. When asked what she likes the most about being a Specialist, Alison says that she really likes working with people from diverse backgrounds and using chemistry to find solutions for industrial challenges.
The need for new pharmaceuticals is ever increasing. This is due to the need to have drugs that are stronger or work better but have fewer side effects. Similarly, research is ongoing to discover new drugs that can help prevent or cure diseases such as AIDS, cancer, and arthritis. Therefore, highly trained chemists, chemical engineers, and chemical technologists will continue to be in demand in the pharmaceutical industry.
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