PharmD/JD Offer

[pharmacist7]

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Hey everyone,

I searched this topic (PharmD/JD) quite a bit - both on these forums and online and it seems that I find very limited information/repetitive. I have become interested in this option recently but I wanted to know what opportunities this combination of a PharmD/JD presents? (Like what type of jobs can one yield with this combo)

Also, what exactly do pharmaceutical lawyers do besides defend pharmaceutical companies when they have a lawsuit? How much do people with this combination generally make?

And though I know a JD is mostly only worth earning if its from a top tier school however, since one would potentially also have a PharmD (from a well known/accredited school), would the law school matter as much (ie: if it's not top tier).

Also, what are opportunities for a pharmd/mba combination just to lay both sides out there?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Its Z]

Pharm.d/jd is like sashimi and icream combo dinner. They're better not mixed. Pharmd/MBA is more like smoked brisket covered in tangy Smokey BBQ sauce...

 

[pharmacist7]

Edit

 

[474671]

Pharmacy management 😀.

 

[NateRobinson]

I'm SERIOUSLY considering doing this after I graduate from pharmacy school. I've heard that eople with Pharm D's/Jd's can make up to 270k per year if they play their cards right. You go into patent law or like you said, represent pharmaceutical companies in lawsuits. Who do you think they're more likely to hire? A lawyer who knows nothing about pharmacy and the drugs they're defending or a guy with a PHARM D and a JD?

What is important is what law school you graduate from. Crack open that LSAT book and try to get into a top law school. If you score high enough on the LSAT, some schools will give you a FREE RIDE. If you get into a top 50-80 law school, I THINK that the pharm D makes you look good enough that people won't laugh at you when you submit your resume. If you get into a top 5-10 school like NYU or Columbia with a Pharm D, forget about it. Pencil in a 300k future for yourself, guaranteed, provided you don't royally **** up.

Worst comes to worst, you can work your 32-40 hours in a pharmacy and take up random cases. Money, money, money.

 

[Its Z]

Patent law? Then go to law school...don't bother with pharmd. Why limit yourself to drug patent law??? There are other patents to be had..

 

[NateRobinson]

Patent law? Then go to law school...don't bother with pharmd. Why limit yourself to drug patent law??? There are other patents to be had..

I don't mean to be rude, as I don't know you personally, but are you talking out of your ass or just trolling?

If played right, the Pharm D/JD can land you a highly successful career. I'm pretty sure everyone in this forum knows that the profession is going down the drain slowly but surely. And I'm also sure that besides from a few weird fellows or people that work in paradise like stores/hospitals that they don't want to continue being hounded on by DM's for customer satisfaction surveys and business metrics all while not being able to take a lunch without the place going up in flames.

Keep your options open in life. If you become content, you'll never get anywhere.

 

[Its Z]

I worked with several pharmd-jd.....they were all practicing pharmacy....not enough money in law. Pharmd/jd is an awkward combo withnot enough niche to pursue.

So nate...how long have you practiced pharmacy? How long have you practiced law?
What do you think you will get when you have 2 diploma mill degrees?

 

[Its Z]

I don't mean to be rude, as I don't know you personally, but are you talking out of your ass or just trolling?

If played right, the Pharm D/JD can land you a highly successful career. I'm pretty sure everyone in this forum knows that the profession is going down the drain slowly but surely. And I'm also sure that besides from a few weird fellows or people that work in paradise like stores/hospitals that they don't want to continue being hounded on by DM's for customer satisfaction surveys and business metrics all while not being able to take a lunch without the place going up in flames.

Keep your options open in life. If you become content, you'll never get anywhere.

I can talk out of my ass and troll and still give valuable info. Unless the JD is from a reputable school, pharmd jd won't get you anywhere. Look around and see how many pharmd jd combo jobs are out there.

 

[Its Z]

I'm SERIOUSLY considering doing this after I graduate from pharmacy school. I've heard that eople with Pharm D's/Jd's can make up to 270k per year if they play their cards right. You go into patent law or like you said, represent pharmaceutical companies in lawsuits. Who do you think they're more likely to hire? A lawyer who knows nothing about pharmacy and the drugs they're defending or a guy with a PHARM D and a JD?

What is important is what law school you graduate from. Crack open that LSAT book and try to get into a top law school. If you score high enough on the LSAT, some schools will give you a FREE RIDE. If you get into a top 50-80 law school, I THINK that the pharm D makes you look good enough that people won't laugh at you when you submit your resume. If you get into a top 5-10 school like NYU or Columbia with a Pharm D, forget about it. Pencil in a 300k future for yourself, guaranteed, provided you don't royally **** up.

Worst comes to worst, you can work your 32-40 hours in a pharmacy and take up random cases. Money, money, money.

Hate to burst your bubble but in house counsel for pharma doesn't work that way. If pharma is needing a legal defense or in litigation, they will hire the best firm money can buy who will use expert witnesses in pharmacology or medicine but the law will be practiced by the cream of crop high profile lawyers who are lawyers without being a pharmacist.

 

[StevePerry]

Hate to burst your bubble but in house counsel for pharma doesn't work that way. If pharma is needing a legal defense or in litigation, they will hire the best firm money can buy who will use expert witnesses in pharmacology or medicine but the law will be practiced by the cream of crop high profile lawyers who are lawyers without being a pharmacist.

Stop talking out your ass Z with like your roughly 15+ years experience and connections in consulting, DME business, DOP, and various other management gigs.

 

[koercive]

Are you looking at USC's program? From my understanding, no one has every completed both programs. It's almost impossible to juggle both responsibilities. If you do the JD, do it AFTER you do pharmacy.

PharmD/MBAs can work in pharma. The MBA opens doors to the commercial side of pharma vs being more "medical" with just the PharmD. If you want to do medical affairs or anything more clinical, you don't need the MBA.

 

[RxQueen2010]

The FDA Center for Drug Evaluation & Research (CDER) employs PharmD/JDs. My preceptor and others in her office had dual creds.

 

[xiphoid2010]

Pfizer kept staff pharmD/jds, if anything, just to file patents on all the new molecular entity that's synthesized and their potential uses. Patenting a drug molecule correctly and cover the potential therapeutic uses right at get go is not glamorous but much more cost effective than defending it later. Now, just don't expect any freshly minted PharmD/JD to land a job like that. The one I worked with was in his mid-late 40s.

 

[Argentium]

PharmD/JD is a pretty awkward combo as people have mentioned before.

No pharma company is going to hire a lawyer straight out of law school, you need to be trained at a top practice at the very least.

How do you get into the top practices? In this economy - you pretty much don't. Just read a statistic that said that only about 10% of law school grads landed a BigLaw job post-grad. And you can bet that of those 10%, most if not all came from T14 schools (which by the way, pretty much do not offer aid at the higher levels).

If you're lucky ... :
So 4 years undergrad (80k)
4 years pharmacy school (120k)
3 years @ a top law school (150k)

With that said, I'm sure if you played your cards right, you could do well. but as others have said. You essentially just picked the two worst industries in america (pharma + law) and are combining them in hopes of hitting it big. maybe you can bank 400k in debt on being the one exception out of the rule .. more power to you.

 

[hereticmnk]

While I was talking to my preceptor about my interest in patent law, he said two things.
#1- The law degree absolutely has to be from a good law school (top 15-20)
#2- He had friends with PharmD/JD who currently work at retail because all they could do with a JD was to be an ambulance chaser .

 

[Its Z]

Stop talking out your ass Z with like your roughly 15+ years experience and connections in consulting, DME business, DOP, and various other management gigs.

21 years....

 

[rxlea]

21 years....

Old fart

 

[Its Z]

You will be there....

 

[rxlea]

You will be there....

I can't wait to be a unicorn. I hear they age well. 😀

 

[BenJammin]

Pharm.d/jd is like sashimi and icream combo dinner. They're better not mixed. Pharmd/MBA is more like smoked brisket covered in tangy Smokey BBQ sauce...

Please give me a list of five things you can do with a PharmD/MBA.

 

[tongiecc]

Please give me a list of five things you can do with a PharmD/MBA.

1. Become CEO of McKesson; I hear you can get a pension worth b/w 90-110K
2. Hospital management (could also be with a MPH)
3. Pharma market analyst
4. Retail chain management (not a requirement, but could give you a leg up)
5. Consulting for mid market companies (ie small DME, retail, or LTC chains)

But If you're implying that the combo is not THAT useful, I'm right there with you buddy. I think it can help you, but won't make it so you take in a guaranteed extra 50K/year, so really it would only be a good deal if you were set on a particular management setting, and/or could get the MBA without spending too much extra time/$$ (ie less than 1-2 yrs extra time and 20-30K extra $$ max, unless of course it was a top 10 B-school MBA)

 

[hereticmnk]

1. Become CEO of McKesson; I hear you can get a pension worth b/w 90-110K
2. Hospital management (could also be with a MPH)
3. Pharma market analyst
4. Retail chain management (not a requirement, but could give you a leg up)
5. Consulting for mid market companies (ie small DME, retail, or LTC chains)

But If you're implying that the combo is not THAT useful, I'm right there with you buddy. I think it can help you, but won't make it so you take in a guaranteed extra 50K/year, so really it would only be a good deal if you were set on a particular management setting, and/or could get the MBA without spending too much extra time/$$ (ie less than 1-2 yrs extra time and 20-30K extra $$ max, unless of course it was a top 10 B-school MBA)

It seems that many people who have a PharmD/MBA really end up wasting the MBA. They end up being managers for a retail pharmacy and never moving up the corporate ladder.

 

[rxlea]

It seems that many people who have a PharmD/MBA really end up wasting the MBA. They end up being managers for a retail pharmacy and never moving up the corporate ladder.

It still offers some mobility though...and it might be easier to transition into another field or another setting.

 

[hereticmnk]

It still offers some mobility though...and it might be easier to transition into another field or another setting.

I agree. It is just that many people have preconceived notions of what a dual degree can offer vs. how people end up actually using the additional degree. The potential for career advancement is always there but these expectations have to be grounded in reality.