Pharmaceutical & Medical Professionals

Pharmaceutical & Medical Professionals provides recruitment services to the pharmaceutical, medical, healthcare, scientific and biotechnology sector. Our website is www. pmpconnect.com

What we do is important

We recruit all roles from Research and Development, through to Commercialisation in pharmaceutical and medical devices companies.

The people we place make a significant contribution to the availability of innovative medicines and therapies to patients.

Bringing these new medicines and medical devices to patients is a time-consuming process, involving discovery, pre-clinical research, clinical research, registration, reimbursement, sales and marketing and distribution, and in Australia and across Asia-Pacific thousands of highly skilled people are employed at all stages of the product life cycle.

The pharmaceutical and medical technology companies we work with play an integral role in delivering treatments to patients and we assist by providing the specialised staff.

Pharmaceutical medicines undergo extensive testing involving comprehensive clinical trial programs. A new medicine is first tested in healthy volunteers (phase 1) to determine its safety and how it will work in humans. Following this, large scale international clinical trials are organized to obtain data on how the new medicine works in patients vs placebo (phase 2), and vs other similar drugs (phase 3). This involves input from Clinical Research Associates, and Clinical Research Project Leaders and Managers.

The data is checked, analyzed and compiled into regulatory dossiers to be sent to regulatory agencies (eg TGA, FDA), and this involves input from Biostatisticians, Data Managers and Regulatory Affairs Associates and Managers. Following a positive assessment, the new medicine is registered.

Health Economic data, prepared by companies, is then analyzed by the reimbursement authorities to determine if the new medicine will be government subsidized and by how much. A similar process is undertaken for the registration and reimbursement of medical devices.

Following this extensive and costly process a new medicine or medical device is available for distribution to healthcare professionals to be used in the treatment of patients. Once on the market, the products are supported by a company’s sales and marketing department (including sales representatives, Product Managers and Sales and Marketing Managers); the Medical Affairs department (Medical Information Associates, Drug Safety Associates, Medical Science Liaisons, Medical Advisers and Medical Directors), and backed up with the functions of Administration, Engineering, Finance, Human Resources, IT, Legal, Operations and Manufacturing.

As a result of years of discovery and innovation there are thousands of prescription pharmaceuticals, over-the-counter medicines and medical devices and related technologies available to treat a range of medical conditions.

Every day Healthcare Professionals treat patients and use pharmaceuticals and medical devices to help them lead longer, healthier and more productive lives.

The leading causes of death in Australia include coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, cancers, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and respiratory conditions, and there are many innovative medicines and therapies being developed to treat these and other diseases.

Cardiovascular disease

1 in 5 Australians (22% ) have cardiovascular disease; there are 1. 1 million hospitalisations annually for cardiovascular disease; and 30% of deaths are due to cardiovascular disease (Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare).

There are a number of pharmacological treatments for coronary heart disease including lipid-lowering drugs which inhibit an enzyme which produces cholesterol. It is the build-up of cholesterol in the inner lining of the arteries which reduces blood flow to the heart (causing angina or heart attack) or to the brain (causing stroke). Anti-hypertensive medications (eg diuretics, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers, calcium channel blockers) reduce high blood pressure which, if not treated, can lead to heart failure, cardiomyopathy, stroke and chronic kidney disease. The prevention of cardiac arrhythmias improves longevity and antiarrhythmic medications treat these arrhythmias (such as atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter, ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia) by altering the electrical activity of the heart.

There have been advances in medical devices to treat cardiovascular disease. Implantable cardiac devices (such as cardiac resynchronisation therapy, implantable cardioverter defibrillators and pacemakers) are used for the treatment of chronic heart failure. In this condition the cardiac muscle is weakened and does not pump normally. The devices deliver electrical currents to the heart to induce cardiac contractions, or to manage cardiac arrhythmias and the result is lower mortality rates and improved quality of life.

Cancer

The most common cancers are prostate (in men), breast (in women), bowel, lung and melanoma. Cancer accounts for 3 out of every 10 deaths in Australia (Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare), and the death rate from cancer is generally decreasing over time, due to improved diagnosis and treatment.

Cancer drugs work in a variety of different ways, and over the years the pharmaceutical industry has developed a number of innovative therapies. Chemotherapy inhibits important steps in cell division, thus damaging the cancer cells; radiation therapy kills cancer cells by damaging the DNA of the cells, preventing them from reproducing; hormone therapy prevents cancer cell growth by preventing the cells from receiving the signals necessary for their continued growth; immunotherapy works by stimulating a patient’s own immune system to more efficiently fight the disease; and targeted therapy works by targeting specific proteins that are only found in cancer cells, thereby inhibiting cell growth.

Dementia

Dementia is characterized by the impairment of brain function, including language, memory, perception, personality and cognitive skills.
1 in 10 Australians, aged 65 years and over, have dementia, increasing to 3 in 10 in people aged 85 years. There are different types of dementia. The most common, accounting for 50-75% of cases worldwide is Alzheimer’s disease. Vascular dementia, which can occur as a result of a stroke, accounts for 20-30% of cases; frontotemporal dementia 5-10% ; and dementia with Lewy bodies 5% .

Current treatments for dementia focus on improving the symptoms. For example, one class of drugs called acetylcholinesterase inhibitors increase the amount of neurotransmitter in the brain, improving the patient’s daily functioning. Another class targets the neurotransmitter glutamate, preventing brain cell damage by preventing the movement of calcium into brain cells. Patients may note improvements in the activities of daily living, and an overall change in thinking, behaviour and functioning eg remembering routines, finding way around and language skills.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

More than 1 in 20 Australians aged 55 and over have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), making it the fifth leading cause of death (Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare).

COPD includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis and is a serious and disabling condition that limits airflow in the lungs, with the consequence of patients experiencing severe episodes of shortness of breath and coughing fits. Annually there are 59, 700 hospitalizations for COPD, in patients aged 55 and over (Source: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare).

Pharmaceutical medicines are used to prevent and control symptoms of COPD, and to reduce the frequency and severity of exacerbations. Anti-cholinergic drugs and beta2 agonists relax the airway muscles, and open the airways to relieve breathlessness.

The diagnosis, treatment and effective delivery of medicines into the lungs of patients, involves a range of medical devices from spirometers and pulse oximeters, to oxygen concentrators and cylinders, nebulizers and inhalers eg metered-dose inhalers, dry-powder inhalers and soft mist inhalers.