The pharmacology research seems to be very promising as the area to explore for new drugs remains wide.
Also there is ever rise in the need for better drugs and modes of treatment for various diseases and disorders.
It is also an area where there is provision of sufficient funds and grants for research costs from the governments even in time of recession.
Because government can’t neglect the social health aspect.
Pharmacological research besides having diverse scope needs some strict regulation and requirements to be considered for efficient and uninterrupted research.
Scope of Pharmacology research:
The scope of research in pharmacology has primarily in existing disorders like diabetes, cancer, cardiac problems, infectious diseases etc. Here the scope is high due to the requirement of better drugs i.e drugs with more effectiveness, less toxicity, low-frequency of drug administration, minimal time requirement for treatment, faster recovery, easy drug administration, low drug resistance etc.
For instance, cancerous drugs are highly toxic and the patient will be unable to bear the therapy due to impaired life style and comfort. So minimization of toxicity of the drug is needed there.
Similarly taking a dose of insulin daily by injection was painful and tedious, so option for oral administration was discovered.
Drugs for tuberculosis are shown to be less effective due to rise in resistance by bacteria. Hence drugs with more effectiveness and less resistance are mandatory to control this ever lasting infection in human population.
The scope is even broad for psychiatric disorders because of rise in incidence of patients with these disorders. Further their pathology is very complex and no single drug is complete effective to treat these disorders.
Pharmacology research requirements:
♠ Knowledge of pharmacology: For one to be easily adjusted into pharmacology research should have some basic knowledge of pharmacology. For this one must have had pharmacology course i.e. at least some degree in pharmacology and/or a masters in pharmacology will be an added qualification. Without basic knowledge of pharmacology, even the terminology of pharmacology may sound unfamiliar and you may need to search dictionaries or pharmacology books for the purpose which consumes time and also interferes your research.
♠ Idea of regulations governing use of animals and humans for research: In pharmacology research, one may need to use animals or human volunteers for the purpose of experimental evaluation. The use of animals and human volunteers requires one to obtain a permission from the authorities of animal and human ethical committees of the concerned institute. This is essential and mandatory requirement before you proceed for experimentation on animals/ humans. Also
♠ Good infrastructure: Pharmacology research requires quite expensive and well established infrastructure like air-conditioned labs, with provision for separate chamber for various purposes like animal experimentation (work space), maintenance of records, storage of samples, installation of lab equipment etc..
♠ Accessibility for scientific community: The field of pharmacology research is world wide in distribution. So one has to have internet access to know the happenings in the filed before start of research in any topic. There must be access to peer referred journals, international conferences, international body websites like WHO, Pubmed, etc.. to have a before hand knowledge in the field. This helps to prevent repetition of already performed studies and also give new insights for further studies.
♠ Proper animal house or hospital: Since use of animals or human volunteers is inevitable in research, there must be good provisions for care of animals used in pre-clinical research or for humans in clinical research. Also it is better to prefer small animals like rodents instead of large animals to minimize waste.
♠ Hand on experience: Prior hand on experience in processes like drug administration, keen observation of bodily changes and recording of behavior after drug administration, biochemical, molecular estimation, statistics is necessary. For this an experience personnel in the field will be helpful.
♠ Publication, funding and collaboration: Scientific publication out of the results of research performed is required to indicate the progress in the field. This helps to claim for funds and research grants for further research, purchase of any needed experimentation and also hire a staff. The scientific publication are an index of progress, authenticity in research. The scientific publication are given value based on number of publication, and also the impact factor of the journal in which the research paper was published. The higher the impact factor of the journal the better is the quality of research.