Pharmacutical Engineering

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imtheplantman

Jeff Rynearson
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I've been doing a lot of research online and I've found myself with a lot of questions that have yet to be answered.

I want to save lives and improve the quality of life for those who have handicaps in life, and I know how I want to do this. I want to help the world by creating new drugs.

I've asked a lot of people at my local community college, what I should major in and so far, I've got a ton of different answers and I'm more confused now than ever.

What do I need to major in? I don't need to go into pre-pharmacy right? I know that they're phasing out the bachelors of pharmacy for pharmacutical sciences. I'm really lost here and confused, and VERY frustrated because I cannot find the answers that I need. What do I need to look at for a prospective major?

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I'm surprise no one has answered this yet. I really don't have half the answers you need but I can try. There is no such thing as a pre pharm degree. People use pre pharm to describe the pre reqs they need to take to get into pharmacy school. IF you are looking to go to pharmacy school to eventually lead you to creating new drugs then you can major in absolutely anything as long as you complete the pre reqs. But I have heard that if someone is looking to go into drug design it may be better to get a ph D instead. Can anyone clarify this for me? And there is no bachelors in pharmacy anymore it was 'phased out' in the late 90s.
 
I would suggest a degree in biochemistry and possibly post graduate work in it. I don't think you have to be a PharmD to work at a pharmaceutical company researching new drugs. I believe both PhD's and PharmD's both do this. I'm not interested in it much, so I am not 100% certain. But biochemistry is a very integral part of drug research because you have to know what the drug is doing in the body. You can also go for post graduate work in medicinal chemistry. Or, if you're driven enough you can do both. It just depends on what part of the drug research you want to be a part of. If you go the PharmD route, which may be faster, you would most likely have to do a PGY1 general residency after graduation and a specialized PGY2 residency in drug research. If you really want to go this route, I'd look into which schools which focus on research as this will help you to get there more.
 
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