InClinition, a pharmaceutical and clinical consulting firm, has designed a new course to train students for more than 15 different job requirements in pharma industry. The course which is a Post Graduate Diploma in Advanced Pharmacy is a one-year weekend programme and will commence from July this year.

The firm, established in August 2011, was formed by group of experts employed in pharma companies including Bayer, Pfizer, Cipla and GlaxoSmithKline. The course is developed to bridge gaps between industry and academia. It is expected to prepare students from lifesciences, pharmacy, biotechnology and other science allied streams for various job opportunities across the industry. “Only 16 seats would be allotted in each batch as this would enable special attention to each candidate,” said Amrit Karmarkar, principal consultant, InClinition.

“It is seen that the pharmacy graduates (B Pharm) find it difficult to seek openings and even if they are hired, they are fraught with teething issues to adjust in the industry. Now with this course designed for weekend classes would provide the required exposure and keep the candidate focussed on the job type preference,” he added.

The firm claims that the Post Graduate Diploma in Advanced Pharmacy is first course in India that covers full spectrum of pharma industry in its 10 modules. The one-year, weekend course will be conducted at Dombivili, a Mumbai suburb, with coaching imparted by leading experts from the pharma industry.

“There is no examination at the end of the course and the students will be assessed on the basis of case studies and  assignments of each modules along with different software exposure required for pharma industry. The course would conclude with a project work,” said Avinash Deodhar, director, InClinition.

The course modules include regulatory, QA, QC, project management, supply chain management, logistics, finance control, marketing, techno-commercial marketing, training, procurement, HR, formulation development, regulatory affairs, clinical research, pharmacovigilance, medical writing, data management.

Further the programme would also include various courses and workshops on medical writing, scientific article writing for undergraduate students, scientific article writing reviewing and publishing course for researchers and postgraduates, business email writing course for administrative staff, course on patient safety and healthcare, course on healthcare management and medical tourism.

Pharmaceutical industry is seen to report a high rate of attrition at the entry and middle level at frequent intervals. Therefore, there is scope for development of students by training them in every aspect of pharma industry so that they can make right decisions for taking up a particular job and a suitable company.