Biotechnology is a fast-evolving field where living things are studied from physical to molecular levels and modified so that they perform according to what a biotechnologist wants. The pharmaceutical sector has taken a beating from biotechnology and is being considered as a supporting profession.
Pharmaceutical education had emerged as the most attractive life science field before the arrival of biotechnology. A pharmaceutical job was considered on par with a doctor’s and had held the same respect. Globalization and linearization caused the demand for pharmaceutical education to escalate rapidly. This caused an influx of students into this attractive field. Many developing countries saw pharma jobs being outsourced and this brought medicine and jobs to the developing world.
Biotechnology on the other hand is a constantly changing field that promises to unravel the secrets of nature and use it to control natural processes, from curing humans to increasing agricultural, poultry and livestock yield.
Ground-breaking discoveries such as insulin, penicillin and the unraveling of the human genome has given it the respect that it holds now. Constantly evolving sub fields such as bio-informatics, microbiology, nano-biotechnology, bio-pharmaceuticals and so on, has seen talent influx in recent yeas. Colleges have changed their focus towards biotechnology and are putting it forward as the happening new field.
The everyday breakthrough that biotechnology is making and the simultaneous media coverage that it tends to get, has attracted a lot of talent. These researchers could have been vital to the next innovation in the field of pharmaceuticals. The headway that pharmaceutical education brought about in curing multiple diseases cannot be overlooked in favor of the promises and dreams that Biotechnology makes. Further progress in evolving human healthcare can only be made possible by innovation in both the fields, not by promoting biotechnology at the cost of denying pharmaceuticals the place it deserves.