Pharmaceutical Management MBA Concentration

Curriculum

This concentration is comprised of 6 courses (18 credits).

Students must select 6 of the 7 courses below needed for the concentration.

All courses listed are worth 3 credits

Rutgers STEM MBA

You can now choose to earn a STEM degree with any of our MBA concentrations. To qualify, you need to take a minimum of 30 credits of STEM-designated courses. The Core Curriculum provides 9 STEM credits. Full-Time students seeking the STEM certification should take Data Analysis & Decision Making as a Foundation course, at least 3 STEM-designated Concentration Courses, and additional STEM Foundation or Elective courses.

(*) Indicates a STEM-designated course

Required Courses

Area 1 - The Pharmaceutical Industry

22:373:621 - Ethics in the Pharmaceutical Industry

This course will help aspiring executives in the pharmaceutical firms to develop the knowledge, skills and ethical compass to succeed in this environment. The topics covered include research ethics, bioethics, intellectual property, healthcare reform, and drug marketing. This course exposes students to a diversity of perspectives from academic and industry point of view. It uses Harvard Business School cases that give students opportunities to learn by making executive-level decisions in real-world business context. Students will be expected to (1) participate actively in the case studies, (2) complete three written assignments of 5-8 pages, and (3) participate in one end-of-term group presentation on a timely topic in drug policy.

22:223:607 - Pharmaceutical Industry: Issues, Structure & Dynamics

This course contains weekly presentations by pharmaceutical industry professionals on topics relevant to the bio pharmaceutical industry, the topics include drug approval process, FDA’s relationship with the industry, pricing strategies, intellectual property & patents, genomics, licensing & partnering, market structure , mergers & acquisitions, and other. Students are evaluated based on three equally weighted papers of their choice.

Prerequisites or Corequisite: U.S Healthcare System & Pharmaceutical Managed Markets

22:373:622 - U.S. Healthcare System & Pharmaceutical Managed Markets

The health care industry in the United States is one of the most controversial and changing systems in the global economy. In recent years it has transformed into a conglomerate of public and private entities; each with its own agenda, funding sources and place in the market. Topics of discussion will include characteristics of the health care system, public/private sector roles, health care markets, managed care impact, congressional proposals, health policy changes, health care reform strategies, and the role of patients/consumers. The primary focus of this course will be how these influences relate to the business of pharmaceuticals.

Area 2 - Pharmaceutical Marketing

22:630:619 - Managing the Pharmaceutical Sales Organization

In the pharmaceutical market, sales and share growth are results of needs based, consultative selling complimented by various other marketing tools and tactics. The promotional, consultative approach to selling complements the overall marketing strategies. Leadership and management of sales force are critically important to the success of a product. The course will address all of these issues. In addition, students will spend a day in the field along with an actual field rep to get a feel of the job "Day in the Life of a Pharmaceutical Sales Representative" followed by an active, participatory session focusing on the tactics required to drive a marketing plan from a sales perspective.

Prerequisite: All MBA core courses

22:630:617 - Pharmaceutical Marketing Research *

This course examines the role of Marketing Research in four fundamental ways: (1) identification of a marketing problem and translation of that problem into an appropriate scientific question, (2) selections of the most appropriate data collection procedures using the most appropriate sample, (3) the development of analytics for reporting the “whats” of the data but more importantly answering the “whys” behind the relationships among the data, and (4) how to report the results in the most meaningful way that translates the insights into actionable recommendations.

Prerequisite: 22:630:550 or 22:630:586 Marketing Management

22:630:618 - Pharmaceutical Product Management

This course focuses on ‘real-world’ marketing challenges faced in the pharmaceutical industry. Topics of exploration include: product development, lifecycle planning, competitive analysis, coordination with the sales force, positioning/messaging, business development and monitoring performance. It will examine the various roles a product manager performs both internally and externally. A comprehensive marketing/launch plan for a phase III drug will be developed. Lectures will be supplemented by guest speakers and case studies.

Prerequisite: 22:630:550 or 22:630:586 Marketing Management

22:630:684 - Market Access and Reimbursements for Drugs *

Decisions we make about our health are critically important, and yet as patients and consumers, we are often ill informed. A variety of well-meaning third parties – providers, payers, pharmacists, and politicians (among others) – influence our access to drugs and the price we pay for them. This course will explore the complex variety of transactions that takes place between the development and manufacturing of a pharmaceutical product and financial mechanisms that influence the payer, provider, and the patient, including the following:

  • Pharmaceutical pricing models
  • Innovative contracting
  • Reimbursement and coding
  • Cause and effect of patient cost offsets

This course cannot be used as an elective towards the Marketing concentration.

 

Please note, Full-Time Pharmaceutical Management students that have a double concentration with Marketing have to take:

  • Pharmaceutical Marketing Research – as marketing required
  • Pharmaceutical Product Management – as marketing elective
  • Managing the Pharmaceutical Sales Organization – as marketing elective

Plus 3 more Pharmaceutical Management courses to get to a total of 18 credits for the Pharmaceutical Management concentration.

Then students must take:

  • Marketing Strategy – as marketing required
  • 1 additional marketing elective to get a total of 6 credits in the Marketing concentration

This double concentration is a total of 24 credits instead of 33 credits if they were taken individually together. This arrangement only works if students take the correct 18 credits in Pharmaceutical Management and six credits in Marketing.

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