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The differences between medicinal chemists and chemists, development can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a chemist, development has an average salary of $71,571, which is higher than the $65,248 average annual salary of a medicinal chemist.
The top three skills for a medicinal chemist include NMR, SAR and HPLC. The most important skills for a chemist, development are laboratory equipment, method development, and R.
| Medicinal Chemist | Chemist, Development | |
| Yearly salary | $65,248 | $71,571 |
| Hourly rate | $31.37 | $34.41 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 6% |
| Number of jobs | 2,662 | 57,547 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 80% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
A medicinal chemist applies their chemistry training to processing and synthesizing new pharmaceuticals. Their duties include developing new drugs, improving the processes through which pharmaceuticals are made, isolating medicinal agents, creating new synthetic drug compounds, and working with scientists in other disciplines. They are also required to develop products and production processes that are cost effective and environmentally friendly.
A development chemist is responsible for delivering products that are specially created for a customer. You will be responsible for conducting qualitative and quantitative chemical analyses for process or quality control. Other tasks that you will perform include researching chemical substances, conducting laboratory experiments, and evaluating the effects of chemical compounds in different situations. Additionally, you will be responsible for determining chemical properties by analyzing compounds and helping resolve quality issues. As a development chemist, you are also responsible for evaluating safety procedures in laboratories and maintaining laboratory equipment.
Medicinal chemists and chemists, development have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Medicinal Chemist | Chemist, Development | |
| Average salary | $65,248 | $71,571 |
| Salary range | Between $44,000 And $96,000 | Between $46,000 And $109,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Kingsport, TN |
| Highest paying state | Delaware | Washington |
| Best paying company | Novartis | FutureFuel |
| Best paying industry | - | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a medicinal chemist and a chemist, development in terms of educational background:
| Medicinal Chemist | Chemist, Development | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 80% |
| Most common major | Chemistry | Chemistry |
| Most common college | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Here are the differences between medicinal chemists' and chemists, development' demographics:
| Medicinal Chemist | Chemist, Development | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 80.5% Female, 19.5% | Male, 65.1% Female, 34.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.8% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 8.9% Asian, 26.8% White, 52.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 7.7% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.3% Asian, 18.3% White, 59.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 5% |