Education Background: Masters in Pharmacy (MPharm)

James completed his MPharm degree in 2014 and joined Almac in 2016. Watch this video to learn about his role and what a typical day is like.

Education Background: B.Sc. (Hons) in Pharmaceutical Science

Q: Tell us about your role?

As a Formulation Development Scientist, it’s my responsibility to take a client project through its lifecycle. Depending on the project I could be involved in pre-formulation or formulation development activities to gain an understanding of material compatibility and processability.  As many of the molecules we work on are for oncology treatments, I am also involved in performing the risk assessment to determine the level of containment to be used for the process. I write development protocols that are used to perform formulation development activities and at the end of a development campaign I will collate all the data and write a report for the client.

Q: Apart from your educational qualifications, what other skills are needed for your job?

Good communication and organisational skills are very important. As this is a client facing role it’s essential that I can effectively communicate observations or a plan of action to the client. My typical day can involve numerous tasks that need to be completed that day, so it’s important to be organised to ensure that the overall project goal is achieved.

Q: What do you love most about your job?

What I enjoy most about my job is that I am given responsibility and held accountable for product development/manufacturing. I find this very motivating and also rewarding, because my work in successfully developing a reproducible manufacturing process for a product is a key step towards patients in need getting the medication they require.

Watch a short clip of Kaium’s testimonial here:

Education Background: Masters in Pharmacy (MPharm)

Siobhan joined Almac as a Formulation Development Scientist in 2013. Watch this video to learn about her role and what a typical day is like.

Almac Pharma Services is a world leading outsourcing partner to the global pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry.  With over 50 years’ experience and state-of-the-art, custom designed facilities in Europe and the US, our global reach and local expertise provides flexible, quality-led solutions from early and late phase pharmaceutical development, product launch, commercial drug product manufacture, commercial packaging, serialisation through to commercial storage & distribution.

The Formulation Development team at our Craigavon and Charnwood campuses comprises over 25 scientists working on a wide variety of projects involving formulation development of drug products from laboratory scale through to pilot scale and for production for clinical trials and commercial supply. Our expertise covers the development of the following dosage forms:

• Immediate and modified release capsules and tablets
• Fixed dose combination products
• Powder/granule filled sachets and stick packs
• Multi-particulates (bead/pellets into capsules)
• Coated tablets and minitablets

Our manufacturing technologies and processing scales range from hundreds of grams for small-scale process investigation studies to hundreds of kilograms for phase III/IV, registration batches and commercial supply.

As well as working for a growing organisation that invests significantly in our people, facilities and unique solutions, you will gain a range of benefits during your time at Almac.

• Work Environment: Get the chance to work in a high quality, innovative environment in modern facilities equipped with state of the art equipment. You will also have the opportunity to work with an exceptional team of talented and very experienced scientists on exciting formulation development projects and collaborate with professionals in different disciplines including Project Management, Analytical Services and Manufacturing Operations.
• Experience: You will work across a variety of projects, from laboratory scale formulation development to first-in-human trials, right through to scale up for late phase trials and commercial manufacture. Every day you will have the opportunity to serve a wide range of clients around the world and provide practical solutions to drug development challenges using Quality by Design (QbD) approaches.
• Career Progression: Your career development will be supported and training plans put in place, delivered by a range of internal and external subject matter experts. You can look forward to learning and development opportunities that will help you develop your skills and confidence to progress in your career.
• Reward:  You will enjoy job satisfaction like no other in a fast-paced working environment where no two days are ever the same. We have worked hard to design a highly competitive salary and benefits package that is designed to reward you for hard work that includes 34 days paid annual leave, healthcare scheme and competitive pension, perks discount card and access to social activities.