Advice for going into pharma R&D

[NordicNobody]

Hey all, I've made a bit of a meal of things professionally and need some advice! A few years ago I made the probably silly decision to withdraw from my medical degree (DS was on the way, DP needed to move for work - it made sense at the time). I graduated with a degree in medical science instead, but it's just an ordinary degree as medicine is non credit bearing. I can prove though that I was working at 2:1 level. I'm thinking about doing a Msc in something biomed related with plenty of lab work and trying to go to work for a pharmaceutical company in R&D. I've looked at a few different companies and most seem to have a fair few jobs at post grad level, though I'd be open to doing a PhD in the future. My problem though is that I've been a sahm for a year now, and would like to have #2 before doing an Msc so that I can just get stuck into building a career without needing to factor in taking time out for maternity. That'll mean a minimum of 2 more years before I can start, and it'll be 4 years since I left med school. I'm nearly 30 so probably be 32/33 before I start my Msc. My question basically is, am I mad? Does anyone work in this industry and would someone with my non standard background stand a chance? I'm not looking to walk straight into my dream job, TBH any foot in the door entry level position would do. But I loved the practical side of the medical degree, and think I'd be happy in a lab. Any advice would be very welcome!

Tangential but could you resume your medical studies? It seems a shame if you had to withdraw for non-course related reasons

No sadly not. The course is so competative that once you withdraw its virtually unheard of to be readmitted. I agree it's a shame. The pregnancy was unplanned and dp and I hadn't been together that long, so I wasn't really thinking very clearly. I was already taking a year out for depression following a bereavement, and eventhough they offered me an extension it would have meant going back after a year and a half with a 5 month old and a partner who lived abroad. It just seemed impossible. I still think I made the right choice, but it has left me in a bind as to how to move forwards!

Don't you need an actual degree in pharmacy to work in Pharma?

No, you need a degree in pharma to be a dispensing pharmacist, but to work in industry you need a background in biomedical science.

I'm 35 and doing a masters in neuroscience. Its a crazy competitive area and you needed a 2.1 honours degree to even get on the masters in most areas.

Then and Msc rarely gives you enough experiance for a PhD they prefer the Mres plus experiance working in industry.

Its doable. But only if you can afford to volunteer a lot to get the experiance.

What exactly do you want to do going forward?

Without a PhD your career progression is likely to be limited. This may or may not bother you. It's fine if you want to stay in the lab and not be bothered with management, but will likely limit your earning potential.

Do you definitely want to work in pharma? There are other lab-based R&D jobs available. For example in FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) - maybe take a look at some companies in this sector (e.g. Reckitt Benckiser, P&G, Unilever, L'Oriel, Nestle).

Thanks for the imput! I'd rather stay involved in healthcare and medical R&D. I'd like to feel that I've made an meaningful contribution to the world, and if I can't be a doctor then this feels like the next best thing. I've gone over a lot of different options in my mind, including things like nursing/allied health professions etc, but honestly the NHS is such a miserable place to work ATM that I'm not sure I could stomach it. It just seems like all the negatives associated with being a doctor (of which there are plenty) without any of the positives. I never thought I'd be interested in going to work for the private industry but TBH if I can help people, and get reasonable renumeration without having to subject myself to shift work/ huge numbers of goodwill hours, then why wouldn't I? I've put so many hours of free labour into various bleeding heart causes, and honestly I'd just like to work now for someone who actually values my time. Not that I'm expecting to get rich or anything, and I'm not especially interested in management at this point. I'd like to do a PhD in the future but I wouldn't want to have to do one straight away if you see what I mean. In terms of specific interests I find lots of things interesting, but especially things like virology, infectious diseases, regenerative medicine, blood sciences etc. I've done a lot of work in the past with people with HIV and this is an area I'd love to eventually get involved in. But in the short term I'll be pretty happy to take what I can get.

Sofabitch, interesting to hear that an MRes may be preferable to a Msc. My medical cause didn't involve much lab time, so I don't think my practical skills are up to MRes level TBH, that's why I was leaning more towards a taught Msc with a high proportion of lab time.