Pharmaceutical Industry

Course aim

To provide an overview of the domestic and international pharmaceutical industry sectors and to develop the skills in assessing the factors that will influence the future success or failure of a pharmaceutical company.

Course content

Information retrieval and communication within the pharmaceutical industry; drugs, medicines, formulations – what are they and how are they used for improving health? Advantages and disadvantage of drug use for improving health outcomes; history of the pharmaceutical industry; overview of the Australian pharmaceutical industry; multinational pharmaceutical industry; public and private support for drug development, and investments in drug development; the drug development pipeline; the regulation of the pharmaceutical industry; structure and function of regulatory bodies (TGA, FDA, etc); scheduling, distribution and sale of therapeutic goods including complementary medicines; how companies are created, and the drivers for success and failure; management and corporate structure in the pharmaceutical industry; contract research organisations and their role in the industry
Introduction to pharmacoeconomics; the cost of drug development; improving drug delivery through design of novel technologies; human and animal ethics issues in drug development; case studies in pharmaceutical industry – success stories and failures.

Textbook(s)

H.P. Rang 2013, Drug Discovery and Development: Technology in Transition, Churchill Livingstone (Elsevier)

Prerequisite(s)

Nil

Corequisite(s)

Nil

Teaching method

Note: These components may or may not be scheduled in every study period. Please refer to the timetable for further details.

Assessment

Examination, Group Assignment and Presentation, Test

Fees

EFTSL*: 0.125
Commonwealth Supported program (Band 2)
To determine the fee for this course as part of a Commonwealth Supported program, go to:
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Fee-paying program for domestic and international students
International students and students undertaking this course as part of a postgraduate fee paying program must refer to the relevant program home page to determine the cost for undertaking this course.

Non-award enrolment
Non-award tuition fees are set by the university. To determine the cost of this course, go to:
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Not all courses are available on all of the above bases, and students must check to ensure that they are permitted to enrol in a particular course.

* Equivalent Full Time Study Load. Please note: all EFTSL values are published and calculated at ten decimal places. Values are displayed to three decimal places for ease of interpretation.