They might initially tell you that you can do a clinic a month (pro bono), but after a while, you are too busy. I have a few MD and MD PhD friends in big Pharma. You actually do not see patients in those clinical trials, you are just running them, designing them, etc. People in Medical Affairs talk to MD investigators in academia or in practice who are actually enrolling those patients. In Pre-clinical research, you do experiments testing your drugs. If the company moves to a new direction, you also need to be nimble and change. One of my former PhD classmates is now the President of a small size biotech company in DC. He worked first at Roche and moved a few times. Again, it is a rewarding job with good salaries, but you limit your choices of what you are working at.
In most situations in the US, there is no combo of part-time private practice and part-time research. Practice will eventually eat you back. People and referring MDs expect you to be there for them when you are needed.
