B.Pharm. or Pharm.D. – Which is Better?

Students who wish to graduate in courses related to pharmacy have 2 major options to choose from. These options are namely, Pharm.D. and B.Pharm. We are here to evaluate the two courses to choose from B.Pharm. or Pharm.D.

Being a Doctoral program, Pharm.D. is a course on clinical pharmacy. It is an extremely detailed and well integrated course which makes a student professionally qualified to dispense and prepare medical drugs. B.Pharm. however is related to drug manufacture as it includes subjects like quality assurance and control and also drug discovery.

A comparison between these 2 courses has been mentioned below for those who cannot decide which is better for them – B.Pharm. or Pharm.D.

Comparison between B.Pharm. or Pharm.D. to decide which is better

Eligibility and years of study

The Pharm.D. is a 6-year integrated course and eligibility for this degree is that the student must have completed his class 12th examinations with physics, chemistry and either biology or mathematics. On the other hand, B.Pharm. is a 4-year course with the eligibility being that the student should be a class 12 science stream student.

Focus of study

While Pharm.D. focuses on clinical practise and allows the student to get a hands-on experience while working as a pharmacist, B.Pharm. is more research oriented and as mentioned above it focuses on the manufacture of drugs and what new discoveries can be made in this field.

Functional areas of work

Both Pharm.D. And B.Pharm. allows students to cover several functional areas of work allowing him to use his potential to the fullest. A student of Pharm.D. can work in areas such as counselling patients, drug dispensing, patient record and history keeping, maintaining medicine’s records and its after effects and also advising safe use of drug along with its administration. B.Pharm. students cover an entirely different area which involves drug analysis and testing, new drug discovery, quality assurance and control, clinical research and even marketing and sales.

Linked industries to work in

After completing a course of Pharm.D. students can find suitable jobs in hospitals, retail outlets, healthcare centres and industries and even into consulting. However, the job will be completely related to medicines and pharmacies. B.Pharm. too opens up a world of possibilities for students as they can seek jobs in biotech industries, pharmaceutical and drug manufacturing companies, FDA and in companies that are into the making and manufacturing of medical instruments.

B.Pharm. or Pharm.D. So, which is better and which one to choose?

If you are a student who wishes to work as a pharmacist in big hospitals and healthcare clinics whether it is in your homeland or in countries abroad, then a Pharm.D. course would be better for you.  You can also pursue your Ph.D. after completing Pharm.D. if you are interested in doing further clinical research work.

However, if researching about new therapies and drugs interests you immensely and you look forward to work in pharmaceuticals, drugs and biotech industries then a B.Pharm. programme would be best suitable for you. You must follow it with the master’s programme known as M.Pharm. to excel in this field and may also do Ph.D. after that.