The Graduate Certificate in Pharmaceutical Medicine will be awarded to students who successfully complete the following course work. The program is offered as a distance learning program and will take a minimum of one year to complete. It may be completed full time or part time.

To fulfil the program requirements, students must satisfactorily complete four core courses, each worth 6 units of credit.

Please note that direct enrolments into the Graduate Certificate in Pharmaceutical Medicine are not accepted. This program is offered as an exit-only option from programs 9370.

Learning Outcomes
Assessment will be based on the ability to apply principles to problem solving. There will be minimal emphasis on memorisation of factual material. Both written exams and assignments will be based on scenarios i.e. case-type situations that require the exercise of comprehension, judgement, and an understanding of the issues involved.

Education and Assessment
Will be based on high-quality information delivery, application of this information through assignment work, and written examinations. This will form the platform for the assignment work that will be based mainly on the primary (i.e. research) literature. A key feature of assignment work will be development of critical appraisal skills for research papers. This will be supported by the on-line learning system, Moodle which provides all course information including assignment work, student questions and answers, chat rooms, etc. Students will study course materials at their own pace. There will be webinars for each course and two weekend workshops per Session. Tutors will be available for Q&A by email.

Program Overview
The courses within the program start with a general overview of the drug development process, with a focus on drug discovery, chemistry relevant to drug discovery and development issues, pharmacokinetics and codes of practices and standards, and regulation of medicines in Australia. Significant attention is given to understanding the pharmacology and pharmacodynamic properties of drugs and how this relates to pharmacokinetics also. This is explored further in drug safety assessments leading up to the first human clinical testing. As the story of development of a drug from discovery through to human testing progresses in the program we deal with the important principles of clinical trial practice and management. This includes protocol development, obtaining regulatory and ethical approval, planning trial recruitment, data management and data reporting. The course closes with an introduction to the Law as it pertains to the development of new drugs. Emphasis is upon Administrative Law as it applies to the review of regulatory decisions provided by the Therapeutic Goods Act. The processes involved in the regulation of medicines, including prescription and non-prescription medicines, and medical devices within Australia are discussed in detail, along with the requirements of other international agencies.

Please refer to the Program Structure above and contact the Pharmaceutical Medicine office for further information.

For information regarding fees for UNSW programs, please refer to the following website:  UNSW Fee Website.