I just finished my first week at Novartis. Wow, is all I can say. My first few days at my new co-op involved mostly training, but I still got to see the campus and walk around my new work site. I am going to give you a little background about Novartis first. Novartis is one of the BIGGEST drug companies and biomedical research institutions in the world. It has locations in Basel (global headquarters), East Hanover NJ, Emeryville CA, and several other global locations.
Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research (NIBR) is headquartered in Cambridge MA, where I am currently working. This is an amazing opportunity to be based at the global headquarter site for research in biomedicals. Novartis has sites in over 75 countries world wide in various areas (CIBA vision, animal health, Sandoz products, research, vaccines, diagnostics..etc). Although my first week was mostly training, I also had time to get acclimated to the site. The campus at
Novartis is almost like a college campus. Its main building is located at 220 Massachusetts Avenue and also 250 Mass Ave, while it has satellites at technology square in Cambridge as well. The actually building is absolutely amazing. It has glass elevators (similar to the elevators in Charlie in the chocolate factory), and the architecture has won awards for its design and also for its 'green' energy efficiency. It is located at the old Necco wafer factory. In 2004, Novartis bought this factory and turned it into a state of the art research institute. A double helix has been painted on the old water tower that once belonged to the candy factory and the cafeteria is located in the actual factory that once produced Necco Wafers.
Now, I will discuss my actual role for this co-op. I am a clinical trial leader assistant. I will help amend protocols for various drugs that are in development, usual in the first and second stages of their clinical trials. I am in the translational medicine group that helps with the transition from animal testing to in-human testing. This is the most important pathway for the drug process. If it works in a mouse or dog, it might work completely differently in a human. Here, proof of concepts for the drugs purpose and action are explained, and also good clinical practices are discussed. The FDA highly regulates clinical trials, so it is important that every aspect of this process is documented and noted. What most people don't realize is that it takes upwards of 15 years and hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars to create just ONE drug. Many drug molecules are often developed (Usually about 10 slightly different drugs are tested in humans at actual clinics) and at the end, just ONE drug product actually gets to market and is sold at drug stores world wide. This is for a successful drug trial. If the FDA, for any reason, thinks a drug is not safe for human use, or that the drug company is not providing accurate information, then they can hold the trial until they deem it acceptable to their standards and regulations they have in place.
As for now, I am excited to actually go to a clinic site next week where they are going to dose the drug to actual human patients. I will be sure to keep you updated on my co-op and I encourage you to ask questions! Have a good day! (Also I encourage you to check out the Novartis website- http://www.novartis.com/ )
