A career in the pharmaceutical sector

The pharmaceutical industry in India has grown from a 4 to a 290 billion industry in a span of 30 odd years. It is today meeting about 80 percent of the country's drug requirements and is growing at 9 percent every year. With around 20,000 production units in the country the industry produces drugs worth Rs 18,000 crore.  It also accounts for 2 percent of the world's pharmaceutical market and has an estimated market value of about $ 8 billion according to a leading job portal. In terms of total pharmaceutical production it has been ranked as number 4 and 13  in terms of value. The Indian pharmaceutical industry is highly fragmented and it has around 30,000 players, out of which 330 are in organised sector.

India is also emerging as a global leader in the area of outsourced clinical research and contract manufacturing & research. All these areas contribute to various opportunities for the local talent pool.

Indian multinational companies like Dr Reddy's Lab, Cipla, Ranbaxy, etc have created awareness about the Indian market prospects in the international pharmaceutical market.

Traditionally, the pharmaceutical sector has been absorbing pharmacy and chemistry graduates into various roles. Biotechnology, microbiology and clinical research graduates are also absorbed into the pharmacy sector. Market pundits feel that with a dynamic market the job scenario in the pharma sector has undergone several changes. Business strategies and management issues are now important aspects of a pharma enterprise. Professionals are now expected to have technical know how, managerial skills along with market exposure.

The need for manpower has given way to several innovative and specialised programmes for pharma and management aspirants. Pharma management or MBA in pharmaceutical management is one such focus area. In India many promising management institutes offer a two year post graduate diploma in pharma management among their fulltime programmes. Some of these programmes were started in association with some of the industry players or regulatory authorities. For instance the Post Graduate Diploma in Management (Pharmaceutical Management) by SIES College of Management Studies (SIESCOMS) started in 1997 is in collaboration with the Indian Drug Manufactures Association (IDMA). It is a 2 year full time AICTE approved program catering to the needs of the Pharma industry, and offers education on industry specific subjects like Pharmaceutics, Physiology, GMP, Pharma Marketing (including Product Management, Brand Building, New Project Launch and Sales Force Management), IPR, Drug Regulation, International Marketing in addition to General Management. The syllabus also includes a topic on regulatory affairs and clinical research. This unique management programme is also offered by some of the B Pharm institutes in the country. NMIMS, Mumbai also offers an MBA in Pharmaceutical management. This is a general management programme with a focus on the pharmaceutical marketing strategy, distribution, promotion, pricing, product and promotion -mix.  As part of the course students also study international marketing, managing multinationals and innovation management. Spanish and Mandarin are compulsory for the students.

These courses are usually restricted to science graduates especially life sciences, microbiology, biotechnology, chemistry, pharmacy, medicine etc.

Business schools abroad also offer MBAs on pharmaceutical management either as full time, part time or distance programmes.

In India however most of employment opportunities for management graduates in the pharmacy sector are restricted to marketing and business development. General or specialised MBAs are not widely differentiated by the industry.

List* of Indian and international MBA (Pharmaceutical management)/pharma management programmes.

*Not an exhaustive list