MBA Pharmacy: How AI, data science and technology are reshaping the industry, boosting career options

NEW DELHI: Pharmaceutical management is a new entrant on the scene of hyper-niche specialisations in management with its first programmes emerging only in the 2000s. Despite that, the programmes are already undergoing a change.

Offering institutions, including the National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) and Jamia Hamdard, are restructuring the curriculum to incorporate components on data sciences and analytics. They took this route after discovering an increasing number of pharmaceutical management graduates getting placed in roles related to data analytics, along with more traditional ones in marketing, product, supply chain – all now well-established core areas.

Jwaad Akhtar Khan, assistant professor, School of Management and Business Studies, Jamia Hamdard, said, “Recently we have seen a trend that market research companies, especially catering to the pharmaceutical industry, are coming for the business analytics and data sciences background openings. Previously, companies majorly came for sales and marketing roles and pharmaceutical product management.”

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MBA Pharmacy: Growth graph

An MBA in pharmaceutical management was first launched by the NIPER Mohali 1980 and later, by Jamia Hamdard in 2020. The Indian Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR) Jaipur started an MBA in pharmaceutical management and IIHMR Bangalore started a specialisation in pharmaceuticals for general MBA students.

The course is available in only a handful of institutions and many have revised their curriculum in the last two years to ensure students leave with skills to meet the latest demands of the pharmaceutical industry.

N Rajesh Kumar, assistant professor, department of pharmaceutical management, NIPER Ahmedabad, explained: “Pharmacy is a technical course. The addition of management gives an overall experience, along with the pharmaceutical part – what the product is based on, the price it’s supposed to sell at, product placement and promotion. These aspects are taught in the course and give you the requirements of the product for the market, including consumer expectation, consumer need and demand.”

However, after the penetration of artificial intelligence and shift in industry demands have caused changes, stated Khan.

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MBA in pharmaceutical industry: Curriculum, revision

While all programme managers have noted the deeper penetration of technology and data analysis in the field, they have taken different approaches to framing curriculum and focus on fulfilling different needs.

Jamia, currently in the top spot for pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF rankings), relies on alumni to stay updated on both skills and placements. “We are taking the inputs from the existing model that we have already developed in pharmacy,” said Khan.

A professor from NIPER Hyderabad pointed out that pharmaceutical management is a niche course that only BPharma graduates are eligible for. “However, communications play an important role, as part of the MBA in pharmaceutical management, students have to talk to doctors or strategise and convince the stakeholders. So, nowadays communication skills are very important,” he said, asking not to be named.

Recruiters expect the graduating students to be aware of the know-how of the sector, he continued. “It’s already a specialised course, so, all the courses are according to pharmaceutical product, brand and financial management in the sector and others,” he explained.

“However, the curriculum also needs to be revised as per the requirement of the current government with a focus on technology. Courses like marketing of medical devices, medical-tech policies, and digital marketing in pharmaceutical products are constantly revised. That’s how we try to improvise the curriculum so that students are on par with the market expectations.”

As the industry itself leans more on new technologies, courses are added. “We are introducing courses focused on information technology and inviting experts… for adding skills in artificial intelligence and …analysing and visualising data. At NIPER, we are in the process of revising the curriculum,” he said.

IIHMR Bangalore recently introduced a specialisation in pharmaceutical management within the existing postgraduate diploma in management (PGDM) in hospital and health management. Shamsuzzaman Ansari, associate professor at IIHMR Bangalore said, “Under the PGDIM, in the first year, the curriculum remains the same for all the 120 students. From the second year onwards, students get an option to choose one from hospital, pharmaceutical, health IT or public health management. Under pharmaceuticals, the focus is on application across the value chain, including clinical phase, pre and post-launch”.

The specialisation also has essentials of digital health, and digital marketing, including chatbot development powered by ChatGPT. “We teach prompt engineering and many other AI tools and related information. So, along with that, these standard curricula also have a value-added process where students get hands-on [training on] the same AI tools. However, all these courses are revised every year,” added Ansari.

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NIPER Hyderabad, IIHMR: Placements

NIPER Hyderabad and IIHMR Bangalore both report a 100% placement rate with a rise in packages every year. “Over the last two decades in pharmaceutical management, we are seeing 100% placements with the highest package of Rs 28 lakh per annum in 2023-24. For this batch, we are expecting a higher amount,” said a professor from NIPER Hyderabad.

For IIHMR Bangalore, the average package has been in the range of Rs 6- 7 lakh per annum.

Khan foresees a bright future for pharmaceutical management. “The craze of this course is growing every year, as we are seeing a growth in our applications – we take one in three to four applicants… And we have seen that over the past two years, other universities have opened similar courses but despite this fact, we are on a higher growth trajectory.”