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The differences between medicinal chemists and pharmacists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a pharmacist has an average salary of $118,968, 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 pharmacist are patients, customer service, and employee development.
| Medicinal Chemist | Pharmacist | |
| Yearly salary | $65,248 | $118,968 |
| Hourly rate | $31.37 | $57.20 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 2,662 | 50,943 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 3.67 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 55% |
| 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.
Pharmacists are medical experts who distribute prescribed medications and immunizations to individuals. They are responsible for ensuring the quality of medicines supplied to patients, which should be within the law and prescribing only what is suitable to the condition of the user and provide proper knowledge on how to take them and possible reactions or side effects that may occur. Pharmacists could work in all environments where medications are used, or medication therapy is appraised as part of patients' care plan but most commonly in hospitals, community-based setting, and health systems.
Medicinal chemists and pharmacists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Medicinal Chemist | Pharmacist | |
| Average salary | $65,248 | $118,968 |
| Salary range | Between $44,000 And $96,000 | Between $93,000 And $151,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Sacramento, CA |
| Highest paying state | Delaware | California |
| Best paying company | Novartis | Safeway |
| Best paying industry | - | Retail |
There are a few differences between a medicinal chemist and a pharmacist in terms of educational background:
| Medicinal Chemist | Pharmacist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 55% |
| Most common major | Chemistry | Pharmacy |
| Most common college | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | University of Michigan - Ann Arbor |
Here are the differences between medicinal chemists' and pharmacists' demographics:
| Medicinal Chemist | Pharmacist | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 80.5% Female, 19.5% | Male, 43.2% Female, 56.8% |
| 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, 7.0% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 5.6% Asian, 20.9% White, 62.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 11% |