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Pharmacologist vs medicinal chemist

The differences between pharmacologists and medicinal chemists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a pharmacologist has an average salary of $101,437, which is higher than the $65,248 average annual salary of a medicinal chemist.

The top three skills for a pharmacologist include data analysis, preclinical and clinical development. The most important skills for a medicinal chemist are NMR, SAR, and HPLC.

Pharmacologist vs medicinal chemist overview

PharmacologistMedicinal Chemist
Yearly salary$101,437$65,248
Hourly rate$48.77$31.37
Growth rate17%6%
Number of jobs1,7672,662
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 64%Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Average age4142
Years of experience4-

Pharmacologist vs medicinal chemist salary

Pharmacologists and medicinal chemists have different pay scales, as shown below.

PharmacologistMedicinal Chemist
Average salary$101,437$65,248
Salary rangeBetween $57,000 And $178,000Between $44,000 And $96,000
Highest paying CityAlameda, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateAlaskaDelaware
Best paying companyGenentechNovartis
Best paying industry--

Differences between pharmacologist and medicinal chemist education

There are a few differences between a pharmacologist and a medicinal chemist in terms of educational background:

PharmacologistMedicinal Chemist
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 64%Bachelor's Degree, 60%
Most common majorBiologyChemistry
Most common collegeUniversity of Southern CaliforniaUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Pharmacologist vs medicinal chemist demographics

Here are the differences between pharmacologists' and medicinal chemists' demographics:

PharmacologistMedicinal Chemist
Average age4142
Gender ratioMale, 44.0% Female, 56.0%Male, 80.5% Female, 19.5%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.6% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 9.9% Asian, 26.2% White, 53.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%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%
LGBT Percentage8%5%

Differences between pharmacologist and medicinal chemist duties and responsibilities

Pharmacologist example responsibilities.

  • Develop strategies for the CMC teams to achieve global regulatory compliance.
  • Stay inform about FDA regulations.
  • Evaluate the safety, distribution, pharmacokinetics, and bioavailability of investigational new drugs and drug delivery systems.
  • Develop, validate and implement robust methods for pharmacokinetic, immunogenicity (ADA) and immunodepletion ELISAs, and cell based-bioassays.
  • Interpret the pharmacokinetic data of in-vivo bioavailability/bioequivalency studies.
  • Participate in biomarker sub-team for biomarker strategy, vendor evaluation, assay development and validation (IHC and RNA).

Medicinal chemist example responsibilities.

  • Achieve expertise with hydrogenations and catalysts, low temp reactions, TLC, reactions done with UV and infrare lights.
  • Produce inactive analogues of drug candidates for PK/PD comparison with API compounds.
  • Analyze compound purity using LCMS and NMR spectroscopy.
  • Develop and optimize protocols on HPLC, LC-MS and other analytical instruments.
  • Publish two patents for drug synthesis process and utilize this process to produce over 100 drug candidates.
  • Contribute to SAR development for projects.
  • Show more

Pharmacologist vs medicinal chemist skills

Common pharmacologist skills
  • Data Analysis, 15%
  • Preclinical, 11%
  • Clinical Development, 10%
  • Biomarkers, 9%
  • Sops, 8%
  • Pharmacokinetics, 8%
Common medicinal chemist skills
  • NMR, 19%
  • SAR, 14%
  • HPLC, 14%
  • Organic Synthesis, 10%
  • LC-MS, 8%
  • Drug Discovery, 5%

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