Most of the well-known Pharm.D institutes and colleges in the country have successfully provided placements to the first batch of Pharm.D pass-outs, with some of them gearing up to find lucrative jobs in the market, thanks to the focus on patient-oriented rather than product-oriented Pharm.D course.

The institutions have shifted their focus to industry-academic collaborations to avail an easier access for significant jobs for the students in the industry.

Considering the opinion from various educational or the college authorities it is significant to note that most of the first batch of regular Pharm.D students graduated in the year 2014 are presently finding positions to serve as experts in medicine nationally and internationally.

Their clinical knowledge being of great advantage have enabled them to find careers in corporate hospitals as clinical Pharmacist and in the pharmaceutical industries as a clinical coordinators for monitoring trials, scientific writing and interacting with other health professionals as an expert on medicines and helping them with information on products.

“Several aspirants have chosen to travel overseas for their careers hoping to find careers in community and hospital settings. Since there is a great demand for starting of Pharm.D programme in the institutions, they are also finding careers in academic settings,” Dr B Suresh, vice chancellor, JSS University, Mysore & president, Pharmacy Council of India, New Delhi, confirms to Pharmabiz.

According to Dr G Parthasarathi, Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy, Professor, Pharmacy Practice , JSS University, Mysore, the university has a well-maintained placement cell employee/student management system to explore the job opportunities for graduates, facilitating to most of them to have a promising career in the pharmaceutical industry, hospitals and other related sectors.

“There are several collaborations with the industry not just to hire students but for industry-academia exchange programmes. The cell is also aggressive in collaborations with the industries to be associated in joint drug development, testing medical devices, support in regulatory filings and dossier development, corporate hospitals, contract research organisations,” informs, Dr Parthasarathi.

"Some of the big names include Dr. Reddy’s, Strides Arcolab, Aurobindo Pharma, Himalaya Drug Company, Phillips Medical Division, Sciformix, Abbott, Micro Lab, Quintiles, Medreich and ICON access faculty support and student assistance. This cell portal enables qualifying students to enroll after their exams for jobs and for the industry to make a quick scan of the candidates before the campus recruitment," informs Dr Parthasarathi.

Similar is the case with Deccan School of Pharmacy, Hyderabad which was the first college to begin Pharm. D course. With the first batch passed-out in September 2014 encompassing 29 students, the efforts are being taken to provide job opportunities to the students, for which the college had initiated reach-out programmes with many hospitals & corporates.

“Some of the students have already joined as scientific content writers for reputed companies such as Novartis and Reddy's Labs,” says S A Azeez, Principal, Deccan School of Hyderabad.

To add, further, out of the 30 Pharm.D candidates enrolled, at Andhra-based Raghavendra Institute of Pharmaceutical Education & Research (RIPER), secured 100 per cent results, with 10 students managed to find suitable position in academics, six in CRO's, five of them in pharmacovigilance centres, two of them as clinical pharmacists and the other five have opted for higher studies in abroad.

On the contrary, a research paper published in International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Review and Research revealed that opportunity to popularise the Pharm.D in India with the help of UGC and AICTE was not exploited and used by PCI. Pharmacy professionals working in public Universities and Govt. institutions are not taking steps to popularise Pharm.D in the country. In November, 2013 the PCI had given approval to over 140 institutions covering states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, UP and Punjab for starting Pharm.D in India. Rajasthan, Punjab and UP have one each, Gujarat two and Maharashtra three colleges.