The purpose of the event is to encourage pharmacy students to consider careers in the pharmaceutical industry. Many tend to enter a pharmacy degree course with some experience of community pharmacy and hospital pharmacy, but industry tends to be outside their experience.

 

Consequently, a very high proportion of graduates go into community and hospital jobs as the conventional option, without really considering the numerous career options in industry. Of the170 students expected to attend the event, only a handful are likely to be considering industrial pharmacy at this stage.

 

Following a huge amount of interest and enthusiasm from students after Fiona’s talk at last year’s event, the organisers were eager to get the award-winning business owner back again to share her experiences and offer guidance.

 

Dr Linda Seton, senior Lecturer at the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences at Liverpool John Moores University, said: “Last year, Fiona was without doubt one of the most popular speakers, hence us asking her to return. Her entrepreneurship and unconventional route, along with the “stuff of dreams” financial rewards, was a real eye opener for the students and had a real WOW factor.

 

“We poll students at the start and the end of the event regarding whether they are considering a career in industry. Last year’s event saw the biggest swing ever, and we think this was due to Fiona’s talk, which gave such a different view of a pharmacy career,” added Dr Seton.

 

Previous speakers at the event have included Alasdair McKellar from Sanofi-aventis, a company that joined forces with SCM Pharma on a clinical trial project in 2009. Other Speakers at this years event include pharmacists at various stages of their career working in industry, who will talk about their career path and what they spend their working days doing.

 

Fiona shot to business fame after founding unlicensed medicines manufacturer The Specials Laboratory in 1999, which enjoyed years of consecutive growth before she sold the company along with her business partner Brian Dougherty to Irish PLC United Drug for £20.1m in November 2008.

 

The duo, who are joint owners and directors of SCM Pharma, are now overseeing the global expansion of SCM Pharma, which in the past year has picked up around ten new clients and grown by almost 50% to post a record turnover.

 

Commenting on the upcoming event, Fiona said: “I really enjoyed speaking to the students at last year’s IPG event and was delighted to be asked to return again this year.

 

“We are very active in the trade and wider industry community at SCM Pharma and are always looking for ways to encourage younger people to consider a career in the industry.

 

“I am looking forward to the event in Liverpool and hope I give the audience some food for thought when it comes to thinking about their career path,” added Fiona.

 

Northumberland-based SCM Pharma works with top 20 pharma, small biotech firms, virtual companies, hospitals and universities across the pharmaceutical, bio, medical device and healthcare sectors.

 

The company offers sterile and non-sterile manufacturing services to assist clients progressing their innovative drug products through clinical trials. With an emphasis on niche, difficult and dangerous products, SCM Pharma also provides some customers with a commercial supply of licensed products requiring ongoing small-medium scale volumes.

 

The IPG meeting will be held on Monday 25 January 2010 between 11.00 and 13.00.

 

ENDS

 

Media contact:

Raman Sehgal

SCM Pharma

01661 838 186

ramans@scm-pharma.com