Author: Sumana Saha & Joyeeta Bhattacharya

The very common notion of any student who has just stepped out the boundaries of school, is to select a career which assures a secured job for their future. No matter what is their subject preference, the job prospective of that course is always the primary question asked to any academic counsellors. Among thousands of courses of this present time, it has been surveyed that the pharmaceutical course is being considered as the most popular course amongst the budding talents, not only in India but also around the world.  One of the major reasons behind this can be attributed to the tremendous development of job opportunities provided to the aspiring pharmacy professionalsin India. The highly skilled and trained pharmacy graduates can explore the different fieldright from drug designing, research and development, manufacturing, to finally marketing the drug and finally dispensing the drugs in hospital and clinical pharmacy.

A booming area of career prospect is the Contract Research Organizations (CROs) which have opened up new avenues for job seeking pharmacy graduates. The job opportunities for the pharmacy professional in the CRO industry have witnessed an exponential growth in India.  The most highlighted sectors of CRO include Pharmacovigilance, Regulatory Affairs, Clinical Data Management, Medical Writing, Medical Coding, Statistical Analysis and many more. These highly decorative roles demand not only skills but also a great depth of knowledge about the subject. One of the specific department of CROs, which remains unheard or less unapproached to a job seeking candidate is the business development team which discovers an unparalleled path towards enhancement of career.

In this blog, I would like to give an insight of the Business Operation team that can be considered by an aspirant pharmacy graduate as a pillar for success in their career.

What are CROs?

Contract Research Organizations, better known as CROs, are the companies that carry out the research services of pharmaceutical, biotechnological and medical devices industries, on a contract basis. The CROs thus bridges the gap between the companies who are developing new drugs or medical devices and the market by providing services like biopharmaceutical development, commercialization, planning and execution of preclinical and clinical trials and pharmacovigilance.

The job roles at the CROs may vary, mainly due to the different categories of CROs. For an instance, the clinical CROs are more oriented towards the delivery of clinical research services, on the other hand the niche CROs are more focussed on a specific phase of clinical trial or deliver their services in a definite therapeutical areas such as oncology, or diabetes. The remaining bigger CROs covers a wide range of services spanning the entire process of drug development.

Thus, as a job seeker there are multiple options within the CRO industry and all of them is highly fulfilling owing to the multiple opportunities leading to a rapid progression in your career graph. 

Let us now focus on the prime component of this blog:

Business Operation Team

For any CROs to carry out their operations, the primary objective is to collaborate with the sponsor company. The Business Operations team are the front liner that establishes collaborations with the sponsor thereby accomplishing the business for CRO industry. 

What are the roles of Business Operation Team?

• The business operation team, often known as the proposal team, are deemed to strategically plan the whole model of clinical trials involving different stakeholders to structure from front end to back end of clinical trial.
• The model system incorporates budget development along with designing timelines in each of the services namely protocol writing, site start- up initiation, patient enrolment specifications, active treatment modules, data management, pharmacovigilance, biostatistics and medical writing.
• The whole proposal is then passed to the relevant sponsor (pharmaceutical, biotechnological or medical devices companies).
• If the sponsor finds the proposal affordable and falling in line with their requirements, they “award” the proposal, or in other words, the sponsor hires the CRO to carry out their clinical services.
• Following to this the actual operational work begins often technically termed as the actual or live clinical trials.
• The proposal team is headed by a proposal manager, who along with the whole team prepares the whole model or proposal generally within a timeline of 10- 15 days.
• In a nutshell, it is the proposal team, who plays the crucial role of negotiating with the sponsor company with the budget of the clinical trial and thus are responsible for the providing the actual “business” to the CRO industry.

What are the minimum requirements for applying to the Business Operation Team? 

The business operation team mainly seeks candidates that fall in either of the following criteria:

• Masters in Pharmacy (Pharmacology/ Pharmaceutics)
• Bachelors in Pharmacy with an additional degree in Masters in Business administration.

Before you jump into any conclusion of selecting this particular role for your career, ask yourself the following questions:

• Are you ready to join the healthcare services?
• Do you want to develop your skills and pursue advancements in drug development process?
• Are you passionate about being the front faces of the CROs?
• Are you eager to collaborate and exchange your knowledge with people around the world?

If you find all your answers as “Yes”, then just go for it, be an invaluable part of the global CRO industry and make your own success story.

The genre of pharmaceutical industry encompasses a wide range of services ranging from research and development, production of new medicines for treating the mankind by prevention of onset of diseases or combating the ongoing diseases, along with ensuring patient safety. Regardless of the numerous job opportunities for the pharmacy graduates, one pivotal task faced by the job seekers are choosing the right role, complex application procedure and facing the final interview. Among the various job options the pharmacy sector such as working in production unit, clinical research, and regulatory affairs or as a pharmacist, you need to analyse which area is ideally perfect for you to showcase your maximum skills. However, this can be a little difficult since skills needed in every job varies significantly. For instance, the qualities required in production jobs may vary completely in a hospital pharmacy or clinical sector. Therefore, it is important for you to stay focussed on your goal which will ensure about your consistency in the professional development.

Let us now discuss about some crucial stages that you can follow in order to have a fruitful career.

The important career opportunities in pharmacy profession [1]:

• Hospital Pharmacist, Clinical Pharmacist, Community Pharmacist
• Data analyst
• Retail or Wholesale business
• Sales and Marketing
• Government sector: Drug inspector
• Academicians
• Chemical / Drug Technician
• Research and development
• Bio-tech Industries
• Preparing Prescription to Patients (not allowed in India)
• Production and manufacturing unit
• Contract Research Organizations
• Member of regulatory organizations like FDA, WHO etc. 

Improve your skills from training and development:

During your 4 year tenure in Pharmacy College, never lose the opportunity to utilise all the training and development program that is provided to you by attending different national and international seminars or workshops. The internships in various pharmaceutical companies  will give you a demonstration of the real work stations. Several pharmaceutical companies and contract research organizations (CROs) provide online training program for self development, only you need to reach them out. You can also gain the qualification by online certification courses and different practices such as Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), Good Clinical Practice (GCP) and many more, which not only widen your horizon of knowledge but also upgrade your resume.

Develop your knowledge by taking responsibilities:

A whole lot of our learning is basically achieved by what we listen and see around us. Being inquisitive and in sighting a habit of critical thinking can make you more inclined towards knowledge development process. Try to indulge yourself in a project that will test your skills of taking responsibilities so as to finish the task within stipulated time. No matter at what extent you remain in job, make sure that you are continuously focused on development of your technical skills and responsible enough to carry out new assignments. If you can build a strong establishment in future it will prepare you better for the next career jump.

Discover your specialty:

Being an expertise in a particular domain of your chosen field of work gives an additional kick-start in your job prospects. At the point when you are confident about your expertise, you will be in a position to negotiate the salary and the employment desires. For example, if you have a good hold on any particular therapeutic areas (oncology, neurology and so on) or any practical experience in a specific clinical trial phase, then your demand of negotiation becomes more justified.

Enhance your profile by social networking:

Without any qualms, the social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are the hub of employers of various organization. It is highly advisable for you to create your profile which is much presentable and updated your job title, responsibilities, skills, experience as most of the recruiters and companies seek the LinkedIn as a tool for picking the right candidate for their job positions. You can also increase your networking to propel your profession by using this social media. LinkedIn is an astounding method to collaborate and develop a professional relationship with those in higher positions. As you meet individuals, try to add them to your profile and keep on building a constructive relationship at the workplace. 

Keep updated about the industry news:

Online networking, e- newspaper can also be a supportive aid for staying up with the latest news about the pharmaceutical industry. Regular follow up with the progresses and achievements of the pharmaceutical companies through their websites, social networking sites or web magazines, can provide you with detailed information that which might save you in an interview panel. Every company desires a candidate who is quite aware of their developments. Thus, knowing a company much before facing them in interview is a mandatory task for you. Find out for the new trends and clinical innovation within your field with the goal that your professional knowledge is persistently developed and you are prepared yourself for the change. As said before, you can always utilize the social media to share your innovative thoughts or articles of your interest. Joining LinkedIn groups and sharing your thoughts as well as a specialist in your field within relevant communities also help in your career graph.

Take advice from university career advisor:

With the rapid advancements in the pharmaceutical industries in terms of switch over from traditional jobs to new kinds of employments having new technologies, it becomes difficult to keep pace with the updated news. In such scenarios, the career counsel of the colleges and universities can help you and guide you towards your choice of job profiles. Additionally, you can also seek the guidance from the faculties as well as from the alumni who can give a real time exposure of the current employment scenario.

Learn other languages

Pharmaceutical industries are scattered worldwide. In the era of globalization, you need to reach out to every corners of the world. Fluency in foreign language (English, German, and Spanish) can open the door for multiple positions with top international employers. Never fail to grab the opportunity to learn, you never know, it might open the doors for better prospects of your career.

To conclude, it is never too late to learn. Never stop chasing your dreams.  A confident and determined goal is the ultimate key of a rewarding career.

[1] Sandhya Bawa, Rajiv K Tonk, Jyoti A Tonk, Suresh Kumar, Sumit Singla. Career opportunities in pharmacy profession: An informative note, Chronicles of Young Scientists, 2010, 1, 7-11.