Doodle Nandi is a content editor for Hotcourses India- an IDP company, and helps write articles that help students with their study abroad journey.

The process of discovering and developing drugs and their efficacy is a cutting-edge research field in many countries.

Drug discovery involves drug designing to create efficient drugs, molecules, vaccines; study of various molecules that assist in targeting drugs to the body and study of in vivo and in vitro molecular mechanisms. Both increasing global threats of microbial resistances and viral diseases (special mention of Zika virus) and existing diseases call for improving the mechanism of action of drugs.

The field of Drug Discovery is purely a research-oriented one, and due to its time-consuming nature there is a great demand for efficient scientists who can invest time and skills in creating new therapeutics.

Who knows you might become one of those scientists one day who will solve giant stubborn mysteries, say for Alzheimer’s or cancer?

The field also gives you an opportunity to hold a postdoctoral research position, giving you the freedom to oversee a given line of research.

Universities that offer MSc Drug Discovery

1. Victoria University of Wellington

Victoria University offers Master of Drug Discovery & Development (MDDD) which is a 1-year, full-time postgraduate course. It is a 180 points programme including a 60 points research project. The course fee is nearly NZ$ 49,327.00 per year for international students.

2. University of Aberdeen

University of Aberdeen offers MSc and MRes in Drug Discovery. The course fee is nearly £ 17,200.00 per year for international students.

3. University of Birmingham

University of Birmingham offers MSc Drug Discovery & Medicinal Chemistry. The course fee is nearly £ 20,250.00 per year for international students.

4. Queen Mary University of London

Queen Mary offers MSc and PGDip in Clinical Drug Development. Course fees are nearly £15,900 and £10,270 per year, respectively, for international students.

5. Maastricht University, Netherlands

Maastricht University offers MSc Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, with specialisation in Drug Development and Neuro health. The course fee is nearly €17, 500.00 per year for international students.

6. University of Bradford

University of Bradford offers MSc Cancer Drug Discovery. The course fee is nearly £ 15,600.00 per year for international students.

7. VU University Amsterdam

VU University offers MSc Drug Discovery & Safety – Molecular Toxicology, Drug Design & Synthesis, Drug Discovery & Target Finding and Computational Medicinal Chemistry & Toxicology. Average fee is nearly €12,000.00 per year for international students.

8. University of Bath

University of Bath offers MSc Chemistry for Drug Discovery, with industrial placements. The course fee is nearly £19,800.00 per year for international students.

Career options

You can work either as a professor, research associate, team leader of scientific projects, principal investigator or as a scientist at R & D sectors.

If you want to do something outside a laboratory life, you should choose from options like Patent Law (IPR), Competitive Research, Business Development (setting up your own lab) and Regulatory Support (Regulatory Affairs).

Who can apply?

Students who have a degree in biotechnology, biochemistry, chemistry, genetics or a relevant life science subject can apply to this programme.

Discovery of Penicillin was one of the significant achievements in the field of Drug Discovery & Development. We have witnessed how various natural and synthetic compounds have been synthesised over time for medicinal purposes, how drugs have evolved, how they have failed and how they have faced a constant challenge to meet expectations of the global population.