Pharmaceutical sciences' manpower supply and internal rate of return

Area of Science:

• Pharmaceutical Sciences
• Pharmacy Administration
• Medicinal Chemistry
• Pharmaceutics
• Clinical Pharmacy

Background:

• Pharmacy graduates have diverse career paths, including retail pharmacy and graduate studies in pharmaceutical sciences.
• Attractive salaries in chain pharmacies significantly influence career decisions for recent pharmacy graduates.
• Understanding the financial returns of different pharmaceutical science careers is crucial for informed decision-making.

Purpose of the Study:

• To comparatively assess the internal rate of return (IRR) for various pharmaceutical science career paths.
• To evaluate pharmaceutical science career IRRs relative to chain-store pharmacist earnings.
• To analyze the impact of IRR on the applicant pool size and composition for graduate pharmaceutical science programs.

Main Methods:

• Developed income/age profiles using public domain income data from professional association salary surveys.
• Estimated IRRs for pharmaceutical science disciplines (clinical pharmacy, pharmaceutics, medicinal chemistry, pharmacy administration).
• Differentiated IRR estimations for industry versus academic careers within pharmaceutical sciences.

Main Results:

• Internal rates of return (IRR) were highest for Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) graduates in academic careers (16.0%).
• Pharmaceutical scientists in the pharmaceutical industry showed an IRR of 8.13%.
• The IRR for pharmaceutical scientists in academia was lower than returns from other financial investments.

Conclusions:

• The calculated IRRs suggest a potential impact on the applicant pool for pharmaceutical science graduate programs.
• Low IRRs are theoretically linked to a declining applicant pool, though recent data show increased PhDs granted.
• Further analysis is needed to reconcile the calculated IRRs with the observed growth in pharmaceutical science PhDs.