by Jacqueline M. » Sun Nov 08, 2009 12:47 pm
Dear all,
I am currently a scientist in the Drug Safety Division at a big pharmaceutical company, where my job is specifically to develop assays to monitor biologicals for pre-clinical and clinical studies. I took on this position two years ago directly after my post-doc, and wanted to learn more about developing drugs. And as I have learned since (wish I could have earlier), the process of drug development is quite complex and intriguing, having to consider many very different variables, scientific and non-scientific, during development. However, I am starting to feel a little pigeonholed in our company, and I wish to be more involved in the basic research in our company, which would also take advantage of all my research skills from my past (ie. Immunology). Yet at the same time, there seems to be a huge disconnect between the R and the D groups here, as they don't really communicate with each other, even on joint program teams. I have proposed to my management for the possibility of doing some discovery-type experiments, but the answer has either been non-responsive, or "this should be left to the research Discovery folks". I would like to be more involved (in addition to being on R&D project teams) in research, and at the same time, help bridge it with the development part of the process.
My questions therefore, are:
1) Is what I am seeking only possible in start-ups, as I have read from the other posters?
2)I know big companies are "less fluid" than academia, so I can understand the resistance to this. Is there a better way to broach this? I would appreciate any advice.
3) How "interchangeable" is being a scientist in development versus that in research (R vs D)? Is it difficult to go to "R" now that I am in "D"? Due to what I have seen so far, I am starting to worry that I will be typecasted, and may be limited to being a "D" scientist for my career. If I wanted to go back to research, will I be limited because of my experience in development?
4) I have noticed that several job listings mention specifically that they require "drug discovery experience". Does my "two-year industry experience" don't count for this? Is the value of "Research" and "development" experience viewed differently?
Sorry for the long post, but I have followed this forum for quite some time, and appreciate the candid experiences people have shared.
Thanks,
Jacqueline
mmk35368@gmail.com