The process of drug discovery is a long, systematic one with several stages. Each stage involves different techniques and tools, and people with specific domain expertise. A medicinal chemist is someone who is directly involved in the drug discovery process. They focus on creating pharmacologically active compounds that are further processed to become medicinal drugs. For those who like the pharmaceutical industry, and want to work hands on in the drug discovery process, a career path as a medicinal chemist is worth taking. Read on to know more about what medicinal chemists do, the skills required and how you could become a medicinal chemist.
What do Medicinal Chemists exactly do?
Medicinal chemistry is a kind of synthetic chemistry where molecules are created, or existing ones are modified or improvised to get the required pharmacological activity. The molecules that are developed undergo further steps of pre-clinical studies, to understand the molecule’s abilities, properties and efficacy as drugs.
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The main difference between medicinal chemistry and other areas of pharmaceutical science is that medicinal chemistry focuses primarily on the designing of molecules. Pharmaceutical sciences give importance to the analysis and testing of the developed molecules.
While the main job of medicinal chemists is to research, and develop molecules that have the potential efficacy as drugs, some other responsibilities of a medicinal chemist include:
- Doing research about activity and other properties of potential molecules
- Maintaining records of the work that has been done
- Collaborating with the project heads and colleagues, and scientists of other domains like pharmacologists, toxicologists, for creating, analyzing, and testing the new potential drug products
- Ensuring the purity and structural properties of the molecules
- Finding methods to up-scale the production of compounds with potential efficacy
- Presenting research findings to stakeholders of the company, for making decisions on further advancement of the drug discovery process
Qualifications needed to become a Medicinal Chemist
A bachelor’s or master’s degree in chemistry with a good understanding of organic chemistry, especially synthetic organic chemistry is a must. Usually, candidates with a master’s degree are preferred. There are also some institutes that offer a master’s degree specialized in medicinal chemistry as well, though not a mandatory for becoming a medicinal chemist.
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If you choose to continue doing a PhD with a specialization in medicinal chemistry after your master’s degree, you could qualify for supervisory roles like project lead and lead research investigator. These positions do not require you to work on synthesizing molecules, but coordinating various experiments and being in charge of processes in the lab. An advantage of doing a PhD is that you could get promoted to senior levels more easily, as compared to ones without.
Skills required to become a Medicinal Chemist
Some of the basic, fundamental skills that are required to become a medicinal chemist are –
- A good grip on synthetic chemistry
- Designing and executing experiments safely for testing and synthesis of molecules
- Purifying and identifying compounds from various kinds of sources
- Computational skills for developing scientific models and simulations with respect to the molecules and compounds that are being worked upon.
- Ability to analyze and interpret data and results obtained in detail
- Keeping updated about the latest industry advancements and scientific literature
- Using creative and critical thinking skills for exploring novel drugs and methods to develop them
- Problem-solving skills for productive and functional solutions
- Effective written and report writing communication skills
- Effective verbal skills to be able to co-ordinate with colleagues, clients and scientists from other divisions, since drug discovery is a multi-disciplinary task
- Management of time and the project to achieve results in a fast and effective way
- Patience and resilience is very important in the field as often there will lots of trial and error to be done. Sometimes the experimental designs do not give the desired results.
From the everyday medicines we use to the lifesaving ones, all of these medicinal drugs have to undergo so many stringent trials, tests and regulatory rules before they reach the market. As research and technology develops, we are getting more insights about how to create more effective drugs, minimizing the side effects as much as possible. We should remember that medicinal chemists are the ones who are working to discover better medicines every day.
