While sitting in a meeting recently I was asked, ‘what exactly is the difference between Pharma and BioPharma?‘. For most of us we may not necessarily know the difference between both so here is a basic description of the differences between the two industries which have made Ireland their home in the last number of years:
Depending on their size and strategy, pharmaceutical companies may conduct extensive research in-house or they may seek to license promising drugs from academia, other pharmaceuticals, or biotechnology companies. The latter firms are generally smaller than their Big Pharma competitors, and they employ cellular and bimolecular processes to make medicines or diagnose illness.
The primary difference between biopharmaceuticals and traditional pharmaceuticals is the method by which the drugs are produced: the former are manufactured in living organisms such as bacteria, yeast and mammalian cells, whereas the latter are manufactured through a series of chemical synthesis.
Biopharmaceuticals are primarily developed in both academic and industrial laboratories. The commercialisation process is often funded by venture capital firms (for academic and start-ups) or drug companies. Prior to sale, drugs are assessed by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and other international regulatory agencies for safety and efficacy.
Biotech opportunities largely mirror those in the pharmaceutical industry. The key difference is that biotech firms are much more focused on research because they are still developing their initial products. Biotech firms tend to expand their marketing and sales forces when, and if a viable product nears FDA approval. Biotech companies tend to be located in geographical clusters, often near prominent research universities. The largest concentration of biotech companies in Ireland are in Cork and Dublin as these areas have made an effort to focus on drawing biotech companies by devoting to finding resources for them.
Those who choose to work in this industry enjoy the very real satisfaction of knowing that they are working to produce drugs that could make a radical difference in the lives of thousands, even millions, of people.
For a list of opportunities within this area please our dedicated Science page and please do not hesitate to get in contact with our experienced team of national science consultants for an initial discussion.
– See more at: http://www.morganmckinley.ie/article/difference-between-pharmaceutical-and-biotechnology#sthash.XtDCZjg3.dpuf
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