"Career opportunities for female and male physicians in the pharmaceutical industry"

Here's an interesting article that you may want to read (if you can read German): "Career opportunities for female and male physicians in the pharmaceutical industry"

At least the abstract in available in English:

INTRODUCTION: Pharmaceutical medicine is not only a mainstay in clinical drug development and marketing of drugs in pharmaceutical industry but also a challenging alternative to the clinic and outpatient practice for physicians. Since most of them have only a vague notion of what a career in this sector of industry involves, this paper attempts to display the scope of opportunities and responsibilities for physicians and to answer some of the most frequently asked questions. JOB PROFILES: Areas for physicians are preclinical research, clinical research, drug safety, biometry, scientific relations, marketing and sales departments, working as company physician, training of sales representatives, health policy and project management. Earnings, continued and postgraduate training, job changing as well as possibilities of information on a career in the pharmaceutical industry are described. CONCLUSION: Despite the wide range of job profiles, a physician is still a physician in the pharmaceutical industry: his or her aim is to help patients and relieve their suffering through ethical and innovative therapeutic research. This aim is achieved through committed involvement in the development and marketing of new, effective and safe drugs.

Weihrauch TR. [Career opportunities for female and male physicians in the pharmaceutical industry] Med Klin (Munich). 2000 Jun 15;95(6):322-6. Review. German.
PMID: 10935416

The pharmaceutical physician - requirements for the position

Here's another PubMed abstract that may be of interest to you if you're thinking about a career in the pharmaceutical industry. It's titled, "The pharmaceutical physician--requirements for the position." Now this paper was published in 1991 in the Eur J Clin Pharmacol. I'm sure many things have changed since 1991, but some fundamental principles are probably still the same.

Here's the abstract from the journal:

Physicians looking for a position as pharmaceutical physician are usually uncertain whether they are suitable for this activity by training and personal abilities. The main requirements are a major interest in therapeutics and research as well as the ability to treat a disease as an entity instead of the individual patient. The pharmaceutical physician is a specialist in the area of drug development. Even by treating populations and diseases his ultimate goal is to contribute to better care for the individual patient. Requirements for training and the personal abilities necessary for the position of a pharmaceutical physician are described and recommendations given for applicants.

Eur J Clin Pharmacol. 1991;41(5):387-91.
PMID: 1761064

Career opportunities for physicians in the pharmaceutical industry

You don't see too many published articles on this topic. However, if you do a search on PubMed, you'll actually find a German article published in 2000 titled, "[Career opportunities for female and male physicians in the pharmaceutical industry]" - (note: the brackets are there because this is a translated title)

If you're interested in reading the abstract from Med Klin (Munich) then here it is:

INTRODUCTION: Pharmaceutical medicine is not only a mainstay in clinical drug development and marketing of drugs in pharmaceutical industry but also a challenging alternative to the clinic and outpatient practice for physicians. Since most of them have only a vague notion of what a career in this sector of industry involves, this paper attempts to display the scope of opportunities and responsibilities for physicians and to answer some of the most frequently asked questions.

JOB PROFILES: Areas for physicians are preclinical research, clinical research, drug safety, biometry, scientific relations, marketing and sales departments, working as company physician, training of sales representatives, health policy and project management. Earnings, continued and postgraduate training, job changing as well as possibilities of information on a career in the pharmaceutical industry are described.

CONCLUSION: Despite the wide range of job profiles, a physician is still a physician in the pharmaceutical industry: his or her aim is to help patients and relieve their suffering through ethical and innovative therapeutic research. This aim is achieved through committed involvement in the development and marketing of new, effective and safe drugs.

So, do you think a lot has changed since 2000? How does this article apply to physicians in the United States?

Med Klin (Munich). 2000 Jun 15;95(6):322-6.
PMID: 10935416
You can review this PubMed abstract here.