U.S. News recently came out with a study of the best pharmacy schools ranked in 2008, focusing on expert opinions about the program quality and statistical indicators tat measure the quality of the school’s faculty, research, and students.  Every year, U.S. News conducts various rankings of professional graduate school programs, including pharmacy schools, which allows students to make an informed decision of the school that will best mold to their future goals. 

Rankings provide students a way to compare the many different choices for pharmacy schools that exist around the country.  However, U.S. News releases a disclaimer of sorts on their rankings list to ensure that students do not use their rankings to replace careful thought, and instead treat them as a tool to supplement to further research.  Since U.S. News ranks many other graduate degree programs, the magazine strives to offer their own assessment of the many degree programs so that students have the opportunity to take the rankings into account, as well as the way the programs are ranked.  Typically, the rankings involve an extensive four year process of gathering research and surveys from around the many campuses, additionally asking experts within the field to evaluate their peer programs. 

Within pharmacy schools, the rankings occur as a result of extensive research into students’ perspective of their quality of education.  Rankings are judged on a 5-point scale, ranging from 1 (‘marginal’) to 5 (‘outstanding’). Many times, the rankings only vary slightly over the years, possibly moving in position after a school funds a new degree program.  Furthermore, U.S. News in particular ranks many schools as tied with other schools, meaning that many times (as is seen within the pharmacy school rankings), five different schools hold the same number of rank, such as the six schools ranked number nine on the list.  Within schools that are tied, they are subsequently listed in alphabetical order. 
  

Thus far, the top 25 rankings as of April 2009 for 2008 are as follows:
1.    The University of California – San Francisco
2.    University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
3.    University of Minnesota
4.    University of Texas – Austin
5.    Ohio State University
5.    University of Kentucky
5.    University of Michigan – Ann Arbor
5.   University of Washington
9.   Purdue University
9.   University of Arizona
9.   University of Florida
9.   University of Illinois – Chicago
9.   University of Maryland – Baltimore
9.   University of Wisconsin – Madison
15. University of Southern California
16. University of Iowa
16. University of Tennessee Health Science Center
16. University of Utah
19. University of Kansas
19. University of Pittsburgh
21. University at Buffalo – SUNY
21. Virginia Commonwealth University
23. University of Colorado – Denver
24. Auburn University (Harrison)
24. Medical University of South Carolina
 

Pharmacy school has always drawn those students who have a desire to study chemical formulas and the like, landing them with a secure career choice.  Many pharmacy schools allow students to complete three years of undergraduate study and then transfer to a larger school which has a pharmacy program, thereby transferring their credits and allowing them a more reputable degree in the end.  However, pharmacy school requires a great deal of work from its students, and they become responsible for knowing complicated chemical compounds and which drugs are formed from each computation. 

Pharmacy school is one career choice which does not receive the respect it deserves.  Pharmacists have become a major part of the health care industry and are in charge of delivering patients the medication which can cure them of illnesses.  As a result, the recent health care reform has revolved around the sky-rocketing price of prescription medication, much of which has little to do with the pharmacists. However, pharmacists have recently carried much of the brunt of unhappy customers, although they have only continued their occupation in mixing various chemicals to produce medications.  The health care industry in general is what customers should be angry at, but it is much easier to yell at your neighborhood pharmacist for the high price of medication.

Despite all these recent revelations, pharmacy school has continued to be a profitable degree which is sure to land nearly every student a career within a pharmacy program.  The health care industry is one which has not been affected by the economy, and while pharmacists are somewhat excluded from the typical health care field of doctors and nurses, they are still a part of the field, if only at the end of treatment.  Regardless, there has been and will be a demand for skilled pharmacists who can work in Walgreens, CVS, and other pharmacy stores across the country.  Pharmacy school is no easy task for students, and usually involves two to three years of additional school which is grueling work in order to prepare students for pharmacy life.  The Doctor of Pharmacy degree is relatively new within the United States, and has only been in existence for the past three years, thereby allowing students to continue their pharmaceutical degree and gain the professional degree.  Pharmacy school has quickly become as demanding as medical school in some aspects but has yet to attain the notoriety associated with medical school.  However, pharmacy students should not lose hope, because regardless of the acclaim they may get, they too are helping save lives by their many prescriptions and new discoveries within the pharmacy community. 

In 2006, people across the world spent an astonishing $643 billion on prescription drugs and the United States accounted for almost half of that total. Obviously the pharmaceutical industry is booming thanks in part to the continuous development of new medications. Below is a look at how new drugs are researched, discovered and developed.

The first step to creating a new drug occurs when it is discovered or designed. The majority of past discoveries occurred when researchers isolated an active ingredient from a traditional remedy used to combat a malady or by shear luck. Today, researchers use biotechnology to understand the human body’s metabolic pathways and how diseases and infections can be controlled at the molecular level.

Drug development involves all the activities after a drug compound has been discovered or designed that make it a suitable and safe medication. This includes finding the appropriate formulation of chemicals and appropriate dosing. Drug companies must conduct exhaustive tests on new drugs to test their effectiveness, potential side effects and risks. In vitro testing is performed in a controlled setting using a test tube or Petri dish rather than a living organism or human. In vivo testing involves a whole, living organism which can include animals and human clinical testing. Clinical trials involve human subjects and are conducted to ensure drugs’ safety and effectiveness. These types of clinical trials are often the source of great controversy in the pharmaceutical world. Many drug research and development companies have drawn scrutiny for reporting only the positive results of their testing.

The cost incurred by pharmaceutical companies for drug research and development can be astronomical. One study suggests that uniquely new medications can cost around $1 billion by the time they are successfully approved by the Food and Drug Administration. And very few of them are approved each year, only around 25. But should one medication a drug company creates actually succeed, it can produce remarkable revenue for the company.

It is a long process drug companies endure to produce medications from discover to development to manufacturing and finally marketing to consumers like us. While the time, effort and costs can be weighty, the payoff is creating a product that might save lives while also bringing in huge profits. As long as the medications are safe and effective, it’s a winning situation for everyone.