Drug Quality Control

The duration of the "Drug Quality Control" Master's degree program is 1 year with 4 sub-semesters. The duration of one sub-semester is 8 weeks, which is concluded by an exam period, and the last sub-semester by the Master's thesis defense.

The program consists of core professional courses and includes an internship.

Admission requirements

The entrance exam is carried out in oral form.

Admission within the same specialty (pharmacology, pharmaceutical chemistry) is conducted through an interview, and applicants with related specialties (analytical chemistry, physical chemistry, physics, etc.) pass an exam with a questionnaire given in advance.

The questionnaire can be found in the "Admission" section.

The aim of the program

The program aims to train pharmacologist-analyst (analytical) specialists relevant to international standards in the direction of structural research of pharmaceutical substances and their components, research, and evaluation of the quality of raw materials and finished dosage forms, to provide comprehensive knowledge in the direction of modern methods of drug quality research, to endow students with new, pharmacological abilities for conducting professional activities in the direction of molecule identification, quality research and evaluation of different classes of drugs.

Advantages

There are three professional chairs in the Institute of Pharmacy, which are equipped with teaching and research laboratories (pharmacy and factory technology, pharmacology, pharmacology analysis, pharmaceutical chemistry, etc.), as well as modern pharmacy and analytical equipment and offices.

Find more information about the laboratories by following the links below:

Laboratory of the Scientific and Educational Center for Drug Quality Control and Monitoring

Pharmaceutical Research Center

Pharmacognosy Educational Laboratory 

Biotechnology Laboratory

General Hygiene Teaching Laboratory

Toxicological Chemistry Laboratory

Industrial Drug Production Educational Laboratory

In-pharmacy Drug Preparation Training Laboratory  

Pharmaceutical Chemistry Laboratory  

Pharma Technology and Pharmacy Economics and Management Scientific and Educational laboratory of the Chair

The institute has classrooms equipped with computers, which make it possible to organize lectures using didactic materials, as well as online lectures by distance learning.

To master the courses fully, students are also provided with electronic materials and books, and some printed books and educational manuals can be purchased from the YSU library and the office of the Institute of Pharmacy.

During the Master's theses defense, students undergo professional internship in the following institutions: YSU Scientific and Educational Center for Quality Control and Monitoring of Pharmaceutical Preparations, YSU Faculty of Chemistry, YSU Faculty of Biology, "Likvor" Pharmaceutical Company CJSC, "Arpimed" Pharmaceutical Company, RA NAS "Armbiotechnology" scientific and production center (SNCO), Science and Technology Center of Organic and Pharmaceutical Chemistry of RA NAS, RA NAS L. Orbeli Institute of Physiology, Research Institute of Spa Medicine and Physical Medicine, "Academician E. Gabrielyan Expert Center for Medicines and Medical Technologies" CJSC and others.

Professional knowledge and expertise

• Present the methods and equipment used for the study and identification of the structure of medicinal substances, to describe the main principles and features of their work,
• Describe the qualitative and quantitative methods of confirming the authenticity of natural, synthetic, and biotechnological medicinal preparations, probiotics, and other preparations and their active ingredient(s), the content and requirements of normative documents on quality assessment,
• Justify the features of quality control of final and intermediate products at different stages of drug production,
• Describe the main requirements for managing and ensuring the quality of pharmaceutical production, as well as for carrying out proper production activities,
• Describe the main characteristics of validation of analytical methods,
• Describe the features of factory and pharmacy preparation of drugs and the requirements of the State Health Agency for pharmaceutical forms of individual classes according to production technological schemes and equipment,
• Describe the problems related to the pharmacological properties, incompatibility, and bioavailability of drugs,
• Present the problems of microbiological analysis of drugs; describe strains of biomedical importance, including drug-destroying bacteria,
• Present the structure of international, EAEU pharmacopoeias, and their legislative significance.

Practical professional skills

• Analyze classical and modern methods of formal analysis, identify advantages and disadvantages, and give a comparative assessment,
• Carry out the identification of pharmaceuticals and other biologically active compounds using modern analytical equipment for structural research,
• Carry out research, control, and assessment of the quality of medicinal raw materials and finished medicines using modern analytical methods,
• Evaluate the quality control processes of drug production by normative documents, as well as the importance and necessity of research and control of the quality of drugs and intermediate products in pharmacokinetic and chemotoxicology studies,
• Carry out quality control and quantitative characterization of intermediate and final products and production waste,
• Analyze and carry out qualitative and quantitative analysis of medicinal substances and finished dosage forms in pharmacy conditions,
• Analyze and evaluate the quality indicators of pharmaceutical preparations and their components available on the pharmaceutical market, to give a comparative characteristic,
• Draw up standard operating procedures,
• Use information sources related to pharmacology and medicine (Internet, electronic libraries, advertising materials, newsletters, scientific articles, reports), perform advertising functions,
• Carry out in-production control measures and necessary validation works of finished products.

General (transferable) abilities

• Analyze facts and draw conclusions
• Apply the acquired theoretical knowledge to formulate various problems and propose ways to solve them,
• Put basic knowledge into practice to solve the necessary problems,
• To analyze and evaluate the relevance and priority directions of professional development issues by the requirements of international drug systems,
• Develop, analyze, and present the results of research and scientific activities in the form of articles, reports, and presentations, as well as actively participate in conferences, seminars, and discussions,
• Gather information from foreign language sources, and carry out professional communication.

Career opportunities

Graduates of the Master's degree program work in pharmaceutical and related professional organizations such as public and hospital pharmacies (pharmacist), medical institutions (clinical pharmacologist), pharmaceutical companies (qualified specialist in pharmaceutical production, pharmacist-technologist), pharmaceutical department of the RA Ministry of Health department of policy and medical technology (chief specialist, leading specialist), health inspectorate (pharmacist-inspector), expert centers (quality control and evaluation expert, expert), drug wholesale organizations (responsible pharmacist, pharmaceutical marketer), foreign pharmaceutical manufacturers Armenian representative offices (pharmacist-representative, drug promotion specialist), research institutions (researcher), educational institutions (lecturer, assistant), etc.

Graduates of the program have the opportunity to continue their post-graduate education both in the chairs of the YSU Institute of Pharmacy, as well as in the post-graduate programs of the professional institutes of YSU and RA NAS.