Clinical Pharmacologist: Job Description, Duties and Salary
Clinical pharmacologists specialize in how a drug affects the body and how diseases affect a drug. They draft plans for pharmaceutical trials and create guidelines for prescribing medication.
Job Description for a Clinical Pharmacologist
According to the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET), clinical pharmacologists develop and test new pharmaceutical products, focusing on the interactions between drugs and diseases (www.aspet.org). Clinical pharmacologists apply knowledge of pharmacokinetics, the absorption of drugs, with pharmacodynamics, the effects of drugs, to create new pharmaceuticals. In addition to the effectiveness of drugs, pharmacologists optimize drug prescribing and prevent medication errors. Clinical pharmacologists work with pharmaceutical companies in new drug development and with government agencies, such as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), that approve drugs for use.
Duties of a Clinical Pharmacologist
In order to design drug trials, clinical pharmacologists refer to data from the Human Genome Project and consult with the scientists who have developed new pharmaceutical compounds and conducted preclinical testing. They coordinate testing of a drug's absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion from the human body.
Clinical pharmacologists contribute to new drug applications delivered to the FDA, which includes detailed plans for up to four phases of clinical trials involving volunteer patients. They decide how much of a drug to administer and how to administer it based on pretrial research and the intended destination within the body.
During the course of clinical trials, pharmacologists evaluate a drug's effectiveness, monitor for side effects and make adjustments to a drug's chemical structure. Clinical pharmacologists also track other factors that influence a drug's effectiveness, including the presence of different drugs, food and dietary supplements.
Salary Information for a Clinical Pharmacologist
The American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS), which includes pharmacokinetics and clinical research professional members, reported in a 2009 survey that the average base salary of respondents was $127,700 (www.aaps.org). Further results indicated that slightly less than a third made over $150,000 per year. The data showed that the majority of professionals worked in private industry, with 68% of those employed with pharmaceutical manufacturing companies.
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