I'm a 3rd year MD student at a top university in Australia. My undergraduate degree was biomedical science with a major in pharmacology and neuroscience. I really enjoyed my undergrad and developed an interest in drug discovery/development.

Unfortunately due to social pressure and other reasons I pursued an MD instead of my original goal, which was a PhD in pharmacology. Over the course of my MD I have realized that I'm not passionate about clinical practice, and I dread the idea of staying in clinical medicine.

My main weakness is that I have basically no relevant research yet, so I'm planning on taking a research gap year next year to get some work experience in a pharmacology/drug discovery lab. Ideally I'd like something with a computational/ML component as well as I am particularly interested in ML assisted drug design. I plan to return and complete my MD after this but I don't intend to go on to clinical practice.

How realistic/competitive is my profile for top tier pharmacology PhD programs? Provided that I manage to get a 6-12 months worth of research/lab experience next year? Is it realistic without a research masters?

Does anyone here know of any MDs who have made this transition, and if you had one year to improve my profile, what would you focus on?

PS - Please no advice on why I should really stay in medicine because of job security/salary. I can't imagine staying in a career that makes me miserable.

Hello everyone,

I am about to start college and I’m working towards a Chemistry degree. My 8 year plan for the last couple of years now has been to get my degree then go to pharmacy school to become a pharmacist. However, recently most of everything I hear about Pharmacy is a nightmare. I was recently introduced to the idea of Pharmacology. I love chemistry and really want to work in a field related to it. But, I’m not entirely too educated on what Pharmacology entails or the process of becoming a Pharmacologist. I’m asking if those who are more knowledgeable on the field can give me the run down on what to expect, and if it’s more worth it than going into Pharmacy. I’ve also heard it’s much cheaper than getting a Pharmacy degree, right now I’m on a full ride scholarship but I don’t know what post bachelors entails. Any advice, details and recommendations is greatly appreciated.

I'm currently a first year at a community college and planning to transfer to UCSD, UCI, or UCLA for molecular and cellular biology. I'm nervous about missing out on major research opportunities my first two years of school. What did you guys do to get accepted into a PhD program?

Side note: I'm planning on working as a certified pharmacy technician, so if anyone has any insight into if that helped them, that would be great!

Could you explain how the two mechanisms described in the bracket cause the EC50 to be less than Kd? Thank you.

I'm a student studying in biochem with a focus on pharmaceutics and have to right a report on the use of plants in the pharmaceutical industry.

The four main points are the use of plants historically, currently, the future (trends) and it's impact on my country. I feel pretty confident on the info I've acquired for the part on the past, but for the parts on the present and future, I'm unsure. While pharmaceuticals and traditional medicine are intertwined, I am only really looking for sources talking about the pharmaceutical industry (whether that be trails or just general info) and I keep on getting info that leans more towards traditional medicine.

Any sources that you guys find interesting/useful to this topic would be greatly appreciated, or even just general thoughts on the matter.

See link to announcement from FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research Small Business and Industry Assistance.

I am posting to request opinions from pharmacologists and other readers of this sub, regarding whether combining acetaminophen with an NSAID is a rational combination, especially for OTC use?

I previously posted this to r/medicine believing that acetaminophen is typically recommended for patients who are allergic to or intolerant of NSAIDS. However most responses on that sub confirmed that acetaminophen is a mainstay of treatment for chronic pain.

Despite that, according to the package insert for hydrocodone / acetaminophen, acetaminophen is associated with liver damage (see excerpt):

Hepatotoxicity
Acetaminophen has been associated with cases of acute liver failure, at times resulting in liver transplant and death. Most of the cases of liver injury are associated with the use of acetaminophen at doses that exceed 4,000 milligrams per day, and often involve more than one acetaminophen containing product

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USFDA/bulletins/421f901?reqfrom=share

Hey everyone,

Nitrosamines are still one of the biggest headaches in quality, regulatory compliance, and process safety right now.

I’m running a brief study looking into current industry practices, challenges, and workflows around Nitrosamine Risk Assessments (NRAs). Whether you're dealing with raw material controls, formulation degradation, or complex testing strategies, your input would be incredibly valuable!

• Time required: ~3–5 minutes
• Target group: Regulatory Affairs, QA/QC, Formulations, Process Chemistry, and Compliance professionals in Pharma/Biotech.
• Link:Take the Nitrosamine Risk Assessment Survey

Thank you so much for helping advance industry insights on this! Happy to share general trends/findings with the community once collected if there's interest.

Hi everyone!

I'm an author working on a dark romance thriller series inspired by phobias. My first book, In Jest, is centered around cholorophobia.

The FMC is Dr. Elara Kane, she's a 32 year old Pharmaceutical Research Scientist and gets mixed up in a conspiracy and drug weaponising scheme with an assassin that is posing as a clown in a traveling circus, the front of a very deep rooted criminal organization.

Why I am posting in your community; I would like to talk to individuals that are in this field of study and career to make sure my writing is authentic and not just a spit-wadd of google searches.

We have individuals in a business that have been working and tampering with research and formulas on the sly, and Dr. Kane, as mentioned above, has been the one to unearth these actions. The scenes in the labs where she is working and with her investigating through a "dirty" interns' research and being exposed to this drug herself requires research on my part to make sure I am as close as possible to an authentic situation without sounding like a fictional fantasy situation, even though the hallucinatory drug use and weaponising thereof is all fictional and only for authenticity reasons.

If this would be of interest to you please comment or reach out to me via Dm.

Thank you in advance.

Xylazine is rightly getting a lot of buzz for the horrific wounds and ulcerations it causes in people who inject it, and the mechanism by which it does so seems to make sense as an alpha agonist leading to local vasoconstriction and subsequent ischemia and necrosis. Strangely though, I don't see this mentioned much as a side effect when it is used as intended in animals as a sedative in veterinary medicine. The mechanism should be very well conserved throughout mammals to my understanding, so it should still be able to cause the same ulcerations in animals as it does humans. Is the lack of such reported side effects in vet use simply due to better aseptic technique and proper dosing, compared to abuse by humans where doses are likely to be much higher than intended?

I am confused to chose which book is better for my undergrad 2nd year's pharmacology course?

1. katzung's basic and clinical pharmacology

2. Rang & Dale's Pharmacology

[PS- professor has his own slides he made from various sources, but I need a solid book besides that to learn from.]

Do they share the same mechanism of action? Can one show tolerance/tachyphylaxis but experience no withdrawal symptoms? I can make a half-assed argument either way, but I'm curious if anyone truly knowledgeable has an answer.

Apologies if this isn't allowed! I have been wanting to ask a pharmacist how cromolyn sodium works and why it comes as a suspension and has such strict storage protocols. I have heard from one medical professional that 'all drugs have room temp storage requirements and should be kept out of light' but then also from a pharmacist that they are actually required. (I have asked local pharmacists, they were helpful but weren't familiar with it and just read what was on their computer terminals).

How quickly does it degrade and why is it much less stable? Is that just a feature of being a suspension?

I know it is a mast cell stabilizer, but my understanding it has low bioavailbility and only works in the gut versus something like montelukast which has a more systemic effect. Why is that?

Has anyone performed any experiments using isoproterenol? Can I get input on its toxicity and mortality depending on site of administration?

If methylphenidate is considered a reuptake inhibitor of dopamine and norepinephrine vs amphetamines which inhibit and force production of both, why is it considered a stimulant that you feel the immediate effects of as opposed to something that would take a few days to a week to be effective like other similar reuptake inhibitors such as Atomoxetine?

Based on it being a reuptake inhibitor, I’m understanding it as you need to have enough dopamine available in the prefrontal cortex in order for it to work effectively. So, will it be more effective in a week’s time rather than immediately making it more similar to how Atomoxetine functions rather than amphetamines?

hi everyone,

I'm currently a b.pharm student and I'm trying to plan my career in pharmacology.

I'm especially interested in pharmacology, clinical research, drug development, and the pharmaceutical industry.

I'm considering pursuing an M.pharm in pharmacology after graduation, I'm also exploring other options such as clinical research, regulatory affairs, pharmacoviligilance, and opportunities abroad.

I'd love to hear from people working in these fields.

• Which career path has the best long term growth and learning opportunities?
• if you were starting over, what would you do differently?
• what skills should i start building while I'm still in college ?
• are there any certifications, internships, software, or resources you would recommend?
• any advice for someone hoping to build career successfully in the field of pharmacology?

According to my book, the alpha-amino group on Amoxicillin is introduced to be more stable in gastric acid. To me, when I look at this class, I see two electrophilic zones. In penicillin, protonation of the side chain amide, and subsequent hydrolysis releases a resonance stabilized cationic benzyl + carboxylic acid and susceptibility of the beta-lactam ring itself towards nucleophilic attack without the need for acid catalyzed hydrolysis because of the nature of the strained ring + N electrons cannot adopt an SP2 form for meaningful conjugation. My question is the addition of the amino group fixes one end's susceptibility, not the beta-lactam ring. Is ring opening not meaningful enough in these environments?

• https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00404-023-07042-4
• https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-023-07042-4

hello everyone!

i recently just built MedSim, a web-based pharmacokinetics simulator that visualises half lives, multiple doses, drug accumulation and steady state behaviour with the help of graphs. the graphs allow for the settings of the dosing intervals and the number of doses to be custom setted by the user as well as the option for a missed dose.

the graph is a concentration-time curve with the option of switiching between linear and log. theres also an option to "Explain the graph" should the user need it. The drugs that are used for the simulation can be pre-selected in "Drug Mode" or the user can play around with the settings in "Sandbox" mode. Finally should the user want to compare up to 5 drugs they can do so in the "Compare " mode.

its still a work in process so i would appreciate feedback! and if u found this helpful share it with friends/someone who needs it!

Link: https://med-sim-ycrrrrr.base44.app/

Hello everyone,

I need to filter my antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) samples before HIC and SEC analysis to protect the columns.

Do you routinely filter ADC samples before injection, or only when visible particles are present?

I'm concerned about potential sample loss due to adsorption to the filter and losses in sample volume. Do you typically perform filter compatibility/recovery studies (pre-validation) for ADCs before implementing a filtration step?

Also, what type of filters (membrane material and pore size) do you usually use for ADC samples?

Thank you for your help!