An invited talk on Clinical Drug Development was organized by Amrita School of Pharmacy, Kochi on December 29, 2015. Dr. Ajit Nair, Head Global Medical Operations at Novartis, Hyderabad was the resource person for the program. 

Pharm. D. students and faculty members attended the talk. Dr. Ajit Nair’s talk focused on two main topics– Drug Development Process and The Career Prospects for Pharm D Professionals. He briefed the gathering on the various phases of drug development:phases ( phases I,II,III and IV). An interesting anecdote of the infamous 2006 Phase I mishap that left developing company Tegenero Immunotherapeutics bankrupt was also shared. The massive failure risks associated with the drug development process were clearly described with the example of the immunomodulatory drug which was withdrawn from the market due to serious inflammatory reactions seen in the first-in-man study in London in March 2006. The career options available in areas such as Research and Development, Pharmacovigilance and Medical Writing were also discussed. 

The students and faculty were prompted to ask questions and the interactive session proved to be very useful, especially, for the Pharm. D. interns.