Overview

The Department of Pharmaceutics is a place where commitment to excellence in academia, research and development is demonstrated through the productivity and success of our faculty and students. We continue to march with times and our program focuses on expanding the scientific avenues for improving the delivery of drugs and therapeutic agents. We offer a training environment that includes the latest formulation laboratory instrumentation and technologies supervised by experienced teachers and dedicated staff. 

The Department of Pharmaceutics, established in 1970 in MCOPS, has two MPharm specializations viz., Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy, each having intake of 15 students. The department is equipped with the state of art laboratories, ultra-modern facilities, and competent staff which have been considered as the most sophisticated infrastructure in the country. The department also offers training for research students seeking a PhD degree. The department is being headed by Dr Srinivas Mutalik and previously was led by the personalities like Prof. N Krishnamurthy, Prof. B Subba Rao, Dr N Udupa, Dr Arun Shirwaikar, Dr Sureshwar Pandey, Dr M Sreenivasa Reddy and Dr KB Koteshwara, who have been considered, who has been considered as legends in the area of Pharmaceutics.

The focused research areas of the department are i) Preformulation studies, ii) Development of different pharmaceutical dosage forms including novel and nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems, iii) Evaluation of developed dosage forms with respect to various in vitro and in vivo parameters and iv) Studying the biopharmaceutical and pharmacokinetic aspects of the drug as well as its dosage forms.

A several research articles are published in reputed journals every year. The department undertakes research projects from the government as well as private funding agencies. The department has marked its importance in research activities and IPR by having 8 patents in the area of drug delivery. It has set up research collaborations within the university, with other universities and companies within India and also with foreign universities. Also, it has an excellent placement record. Academic and research excellence is achieved by changing curriculum, syllabus, and pedagogy to meet the current requirements of pharmaceutical industries, academics, and regulatory bodies.

 

Core competencies

Development and evaluation of -

  • Multi-particulate Drug Delivery Systems
  • Sustained Release Dosage Forms
  • Immediate-release dosage forms
  • Ocular Drug Delivery Systems
  • Transdermal Drug Delivery Systems (including iontophoresis and sonophoresis)
  • Implants
  • Semisolid dosage forms
  • Dental preparations
  • Microspheres
  • Nanopharmaceuticals (nanoparticles, liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, dendrimers, etc).

Collaborations

The faculty members of the Department of Pharmaceutics have established extensive collaborations within the university, at the national level as well as globally.

 

International Collaborations:

  • School of Pharmacy, The University of Queensland, Australia
  • Translational Research Institute, Brisbane, Australia
  • A-star Institute, Singapore
  • The School of Pharmacy, University of Brighton, UK 
  • School of Pharmacy, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia

National Collaborations:

  • Steer Engineering, Bangalore
  • Arjuna Natural Extracts Limited, Kerala
  • NITTE University Centre for Research, Mangalore
  • Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Hyderabad
  • Sven Genetech, Hyderabad
  • Sagar Pharmaceuticals (BPRL), Bangalore
  • Nerve 24 Technologies Private Limited, Mumbai

Within Manipal Academy of Higher Education:

  • School of Life Sciences, Manipal
  • Kasturba Medical College, Manipal
  • Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal
  • Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Manipal
  • Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Mangalore
  • Centre for Virus Research, Manipal

 

PROGRAMS

The programs MPharm Pharmaceutics and MPharm Industrial Pharmacy have been designed to cater to the ever-increasing demands of the pharmaceutical industry, research organizations and academic institutions with special emphasis in the area of formulation development.

 

MPharm Pharmaceutics

This program was introduced in 1970. The course content is methodically structured and designed to prepare the students for a career in the  pharmaceutical industry and to continue research activities in various pharma avenues including higher studies. The program provides various opportunities for the students to participate in R & D projects and to develop the research skills. A brief outline of the courses to be studied under this program in first year MPharm is given below:

  • This program was introduced in 1970. The course content is methodically structured and designed to prepare the students for a career in pharmaceutical industry and to continue research activities in various pharma avenues including higher studies. The program provides various opportunities to the students to participate in R & D projects and to develop the research skills. Brief outline of the courses to be studied under this program in First Year MPharm is given below:

MPharm Pharmaceutics Programme Educational Objectives (PEOs)

MPharm Pharmaceutics Programme Outcomes (POs)

MPharm Pharmaceutics Course Outcomes (COs)

Click to view Regulations for MPharm Pharmaceutics programme

Semester I

  • Modern Pharmaceutical Analytical Techniques
  • Drug Delivery Systems
  • Modern Pharmaceutics
  • Regulatory Affairs
  • Pharmaceutics Practical I
  • Seminar

Semester II

  • Molecular Pharmaceutics (Nano Tech and Targeted DDS)
  • Advanced Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics
  • Computer Aided Drug Delivery Systems
  • Cosmetic and Cosmeceuticals
  • Pharmaceutics Practical II
  • Seminar

In Second Year MPharm, (Semester III and IV) students choose a particular area of research and perform a full-year project work in a specified innovative area either in the college or industry.

Semester III also contains following three subjects.

  •  Research Methodology and Biostatistics
  •  Journal Club
  • Choice-based inter/multidisciplinary course  

 

MPharm Industrial Pharmacy

This program was introduced in 2013. The program is designed in such a way that students would get a clear idea of the various aspects of the pharma industry which could suit the present-day requisites of the industry. Valuable inputs are provided under this program to equip the students for job opportunities in the pharmaceutical industries and also to continue with research for higher degrees. Most of the courses offered under MPharm Industrial Pharmacy are similar to MPharm Pharmaceutics which include Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics, Advances in Drug Delivery Systems, Pharmaceutical Product Development, and Modern Pharmaceutical Analysis. Advanced Industrial pharmacy is a dedicated course for the students of MPharm Industrial Pharmacy.  The brief outline of the course is given below:

MPharm Industrial Pharmacy Programme Educational Objectives (PEOs)

MPharm Industrial Pharmacy  Programme Outcomes (POs)

MPharm Industrial Pharmacy Course Outcomes

Click to view Regulations for MPharm Industrial Pharmacy  programme

Semester I

  • Modern Pharmaceutical Analytical Techniques
  • Pharmaceutical Formulation Development
  • Novel Drug Delivery Systems
  • Intellectual Property Rights
  • Industrial Pharmacy Practical I
  • Seminar

Semester II

  • Advanced Biopharmaceutics and Pharmacokinetics
  • Scale-up and Technology Transfer
  • Pharmaceutical Production Technology
  • Entrepreneurship Management
  • Industrial Pharmacy Practical II
  • Seminar

In Second Year MPharm, (Semester III and IV) students choose a particular area of research and perform a full-year project work in a specified innovative area either in the college or industry.

Semester III also contains following three subjects.

  •  Research Methodology and Biostatistics
  •  Journal Club
  • Choice-based inter/multidisciplinary course  

Scope of the Programs

The vast yet potential syllabus empowers students to excel and provides a lot of scope in getting the placement. The alumni of both programs are placed in reputed pharma companies, research laboratories, and academic institutions worldwide. Campus recruitments are held annually and there is almost 100% placement every year for both the branches.

  • Pharmaceutical Industries: There are different areas such as production/ manufacturing, validation aspects, quality assurance/ control, technology transfer, process development, formulation development, generic product development, drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics (DMPK), intellectual property rights, pharmacovigilance, scientific writing and regulatory affairs where candidates of both the disciplines are getting recruited
  • Entrepreneurship and consultancy: Postgraduates are also trained and encouraged to build their career as entrepreneurs to start a pharmaceutical company or as consultants to pharma companies
  • Higher studies and academics: One can also go for higher degrees in research as well as for teaching jobs in academic institutions
Sophisticated Infrastructure

 

Research

 

Laboratory

 

Faculty

Facilities

Department of pharmaceutics is equipped with sophisticated facilities and provide the best services for the excellence of students.

Research Facilities

State of the art Laboratories and sophisticated instruments...

Staff and Students

Experienced teaching and supporting staff; dedicated students and research scholars...

Department Library

For the benefit of students and staff, the pharmaceutics department has a departmental library.

Research & Publications

From the inception of the department, it has received more than 50 research grants from various government and non-government funding agencies such as UGC, AICTE, DST, DBT, ICMR, BIRAC, VGST, and also from leading pharmaceutical companies. These research grants helped the department in modernizing the labs with sophisticated instruments and working areas as well. These grants also supported many research scholars and staff members for pursuing their PhDs. The sophisticated instruments procured through the research grants have helped them to do the research of high repute and the same has been published as articles in journals of high impact factor. About 500+ publications are there for the department credit. Hence with the help of external funding agencies as well as from the internal grants from Manipal Academy of Higher Education, the department has presently evolved as a full-fledged ultra-modern research laboratory. Additionally, the department has 8 Indian patents to its credit in the area of novel drug delivery systems. The staff members of the department are also having different roles such as reviewer of the journals, editorial board member of the journals, editor/ author for the textbooks, guest speaker, chairman/ evaluator/ convener/ co-ordinator in the seminars/ conferences. In the recent past, the department could establish collaborative research projects with various international universities and industries. With such collaborations department faculty could develop formulations for the industry such as “Refresh” mouthwash for Sagar Pharmaceuticals (formerly, BPRL), Bangalore and “Leuprolide depot injection” for Svengenetech, Hyderabad.

Testimonials