The first year of the program is delivered on-campus at the $100M Pharmacy Australia Centre of Excellence (PACE). The leading-edge curriculum covers all stages of the drug and device development process, beginning with the understanding of how medical need drives the discovery process, through preclinical development to post-registration surveillance. Course content covers but is not limited to: ethics, governance, regulatory affairs, health economics, drug design and formulation, manufacturing and packaging, clinical drug development including safety (pharmacovigilance) and biometrics aspects from preclinical (animal research) to post-registration. Courses on project management, financial management and commercialisation in the pharmaceutical industry will enable students to develop business acumen and the ability to work in global teams across various disciplines. In their final year, students will have the opportunity to gain real-world experience in the pharmaceutical industry via one or two extended placements either in Australia or overseas. Alternatively, in first or second semester, students may undertake an independent project working alongside world-class researchers in the state-of-the-art laboratories at PACE.

Students can undertake up to two placements in year two. Alternatively, students may opt for one placement and one independent research project. Placements and independent research projects are completed on a full-time basis. The School of Pharmacy will organise to find and coordinate the placements for students.

Each placement involves extensive hours of supervised experience in the medical technologies and pharmaceutical (MTP) sector. Placements can be in any area related to a product's life cycle, from discovery to post-registration surveillance, including: drug discovery, chemical processes, formulation, manufacturing, pre-clinical, clinical trials, pharmacovigilance, pharmacoeconomics, regulatory, medical affairs, marketing and biometrics.

During placements, students will have the opportunity to apply their knowledge to a real-life setting and experience first hand how interactions between the various areas within industry are crucial to successfully managing the life cycle of the product and ultimately, product registration. Students may undertake their placements outside the Brisbane metropolitan area, including at overseas sites. In this instance, students are required to self-fund travel, accommodation and daily living expenses.

Careers in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries and government are incredibly diverse. They include: Pre-clinical Research Clinical Trials Coordination and Clinical Research Associate Clinical Research Project Management Medical Affairs and Medical Science Liaison Regulatory Affairs Health Economics Manufacturing Marketing Drug and Device Safety Assessment Project Management Data Management and Statistics (Biometrics) Government Agencies and Departments of Health Defence Forces Cosmetics industry