The School of Pharmacy of the University of Navarra has launched a new Master's Degree in design Galenic and Manufacturing in the Pharmaceutical Industry. The postgraduate program gathers all the experience of the specialization program in Industrial and Galenic Pharmacy (EFIG), taught by the center in a pioneering way in Spain for 13 years and in which more than 100 students have been trained.

This proprietary degree scroll , aimed only at pharmacists, will start in September 2016 and will last two years. During the first year, students will combine theoretical and practical classes attendance . Theoretical classes (375 hours) will be taught by academic staff itself with the external partnership of more than 40 professionals from the pharmaceutical industry, other universities and public administration.

The practical classes (750 hours) will be held in the pilot plant ofdepartment of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology, of 400 m2, divided into different areas: solids, semisolids, liquids, injectables, biotechnological drugs and lyophilized drugs, in addition to two Quality Control laboratories -accredited with good laboratory practices (GLP)- and development Galenic.

This training is complemented by case studies (375 hours), visits to different laboratories and pharmaceutical industries, as well as the attendance to a professional congress . The second year of training is eminently practical. In the course of this year, explains its director, María Isabel Calvo, " student carries out 1,500 practical hours in some of the leading pharmaceutical industries in Spain. It should be noted that these internships have been paid in the last years of the specialization program".

Highly qualified pharmacists

"The interest of this Master's Degree lies in the strong bet of pharmaceutical companies for the development of new drugs, with the premise that to be innovative is to be profitable, for which they demand highly specialized pharmacists in the design galenic and manufacturing at industrial level, covering different areas, such as organization, monitoring, process control and coordination of the teams involved," adds the also professor María Isabel Calvo.

With this goal the students receive training in competences to develop their work applying the current regulations and the latest technological advances. "At the end of this Master's Degree at the University of Navarra," culminates the manager, "students have the necessary knowledge to integrate into relevant positions in the pharmaceutical industry - which requires preformulation, development galenic, production, quality assurance and control, regulatory affairs or technical management - as well as in the health administration and other related sectors."