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Pharmaceutics MSc

London, Bloomsbury

Interested in a career in drug development or research? This one-year Pharmaceutics MSc will equip you with sought-after expertise in all the different stages of medicine design, so you can learn how to take promising new drug candidates and develop them into world-class medicines. 

UK students International students
Study mode
Full-time
UK tuition fees (2025/26)
£20,500
Overseas tuition fees (2025/26)
£39,800
Duration
1 calendar year
Programme starts
September 2025
Applications accepted
Applicants who require a visa: 14 Oct 2024 – 27 Jun 2025
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Applicants who do not require a visa: 14 Oct 2024 – 29 Aug 2025
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Apply for this course

Entry requirements

A second-class UK Bachelor's degree or higher in pharmacy, pharmaceutical science, physical science, chemistry, chemical engineering, materials science, biotechnology, pharmaceutics or a related field in the life or physical sciences, or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard is required.

The English language level for this programme is: Level 2

UCL Pre-Master's and Pre-sessional English courses are for international students who are aiming to study for a postgraduate degree at UCL. The courses will develop your academic English and academic skills required to succeed at postgraduate level.

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

Equivalent qualifications

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website.

International applicants can find out the equivalent qualification for their country by selecting from the list below. Please note that the equivalency will correspond to the broad UK degree classification stated on this page (e.g. upper second-class). Where a specific overall percentage is required in the UK qualification, the international equivalency will be higher than that stated below. Please contact Graduate Admissions should you require further advice.

About this degree

You’ll learn about the full lifecycle of medicine design, from formulation and manufacture to regulations and taking a new drug to market – and explore the latest biotechnologies being used to develop new medicines, including biologics and gene therapies. 

A wide range of optional modules means you can focus in on topics of interest in areas like nanomedicines, computational pharmaceutics and natural/cosmeceutical products – before completing a lab-based, independent research project.  

The course is taught by UCL’s world-renowned experts in pharmaceutical sciences and has been developed in direct response to the growing need for highly skilled formulation scientists. The mix of science and research skills you gain will position you well for securing jobs in the pharmaceutical industry or in cutting-edge drug development research.  

Who this course is for

This master’s is for students who want to work in industrial drug development or go onto a PhD and research into the design of drug delivery systems. 

Read about what it takes to study for a Master's at UCL

What this course will give you

Pharmaceutical science is a unique branch of science that sits at the interface of pharmacology, chemistry, biomedical science and biochemistry. Join us on this uniquely-designed master’s, which brings together all the relevant strands of these subjects into a single programme, with a particular focus on how they come together in contemporary medicine design and development. 

What you will gain from this course:  

  • Study at the UCL School of Pharmacy, a school with a long heritage in specialist teaching and research in pharmaceutical sciences. Originally founded by the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain in 1842, the school draws on over 180 years of experience in shaping pharmaceutical practice in the UK and globally. 
  • Work with UCL’s renowned academics from across the pharmaceutical sciences, including many who’ve set up their own pharmaceutical start-ups. UCL is ranked 4th in the world for pharmacology and pharmacy (QS Rankings 2024) and 2nd in the world for pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences (Shanghai Rankings 2023).
  • Build essential scientific knowledge in pharmaceutical materials, formulation science, safety and quality assurance, and pharmaceutical manufacture, as well as skills in novel therapeutics development, including the use of machine learning and AI.
  • Gain first-hand insight into globally-significant research underway in this field in areas like biologics and gene therapies. 
  • Explore, and learn to tackle, modern-day challenges in pharmaceutical sciences, including developing personalised formulations, studying complex pharmaceutical materials, developing new materials for sustained and targeted drug delivery, and using computational techniques to analyse large datasets.  
  • Spend three months working on a research project. During this time, you’ll join the research team of one of our world-leading academics, pursuing research that will advance the progress of contemporary medicine design.
  • Build practical and analytical skills to provide evidence of your continuing professional development, with workshops in areas like communication, calculations and IT.
  • Benefit from our close links with pharmaceutical companies, including options for some students to complete a research project in industry.
  • Leave with a compelling mix of skills not available in many other programmes, with knowledge across the relevant aspects of pharmacology, chemistry, biomedical science and biochemistry that feed into drug development, as well as strong research skills.  
Read about what you'll get out of a graduate programme

The foundation of your career

Graduates of this course have gone on to work with major, international pharmaceutical companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Roche and Pfizer, contract research organisations, consultancies and healthcare/life science marketing businesses, as well as UCL spinout Intract Pharma. Some graduates have successfully established their own start-up companies. *

Hear how Dr Mridul Majumder used what he learnt on the MSc Pharmaceutics to launch his own successful startup. View the interview by visiting “How to set up your own pharma company”.

*Graduate Outcomes survey carried out by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), looking at the destinations of UK and EU graduates in the 2019-20, 2020-21 cohorts

Employability

The mix of theory and practical skills in areas like computational pharmaceutics, data science, biologics and gene therapies, will put you in a strong position for a career in drug development, or research. You could take your expertise into product development, manufacturing, clinical trials or regulatory affairs. You could also go onto a PhD looking at the design of new drug delivery systems.  

Networking

You’ll have regular opportunities to connect, collaborate and build professional contacts as part of your master’s.  

  • Attend careers days and networking events where you’ll get to meet potential employers.  
  • Take part in careers events through UCL Careers during the academic year, and enhance your CV writing and interview skills.  
  • Become a full member of one of our academic research groups, and build your network with other master’s, PhD and post-doc students, and UCL’s world-leading academics. 
  • Meet alumni to hear about their experiences and how the course has helped them progress in their careers. 
     

Teaching and learning

The programme is delivered through a combination of lectures, tutorials, practical classes and seminars.

Assessment is through a combination of written examinations, coursework assignments, and the research project report and presentation.

The average contact hours are 6-10 hours per week; 20-25 hours per week self-directed study in terms one to two, and the full-time research project in term three.

Modules

In term one, you will take four compulsory modules providing the key principles of Pre-formulation and Formulation of small molecule active ingredients, their pharmaceutical Analysis and Quality Control as well as giving perspective about Personalised Medicine.

In term two, you will take one compulsory module and choose three optional modules from a choice of five modules. The compulsory module will give you an overview about pharmaceutical biotechnology including the medical uses of vaccines, proteins and peptides. The optional modules will include Nanomedicines, Natural Products and Cosmeceuticals, Pharmacometrics and Polymers in Drug Delivery.

In term three, you will undertake the compulsory laboratory-based research project in which you are expected to develop your own research ideas and experimental series in discussion with your supervisor. 

Compulsory modules








Optional modules






Please note that the list of modules given here is indicative. This information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability are subject to change. Modules that are in use for the current academic year are linked for further information. Where no link is present, further information is not yet available.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits. Upon successful completion of 180 credits, you will be awarded an MSc in Pharmaceutics.

Accessibility

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble. Further information can also be obtained from the UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services team.

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students
Fee description Full-time
Tuition fees (2025/26) £20,500
Tuition fees (2025/26) £39,800

The tuition fees shown are for the year indicated above. Fees for subsequent years may increase or otherwise vary. Where the programme is offered on a flexible/modular basis, fees are charged pro-rata to the appropriate full-time Master's fee taken in an academic session. Further information on fee status, fee increases and the fee schedule can be viewed on the UCL Students website: ucl.ac.uk/students/fees.

Additional costs

For Full-time and Part-time offer holders a fee deposit will be charged at 10% of the first year fee.

Further information can be found in the Tuition fee deposits section on this page: Tuition fees.

There are no programme-specific additional costs.

UCL’s main teaching locations are in zones 1 (Bloomsbury) and zones 2/3 (UCL East). The cost of a monthly 18+ Oyster travel card for zones 1-2 is £114.50. This price was published by TfL in 2024. For more information on additional costs for prospective students and the cost of living in London, please view our estimated cost of essential expenditure at UCL's cost of living guide.

Funding your studies

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.

See all the ways you can fund your studies

Next steps

Students are advised to apply as early as possible due to competition for places. Those applying for scholarship funding (particularly overseas applicants) should take note of application deadlines.

There is an application processing fee for this programme of £90 for online applications. Further information can be found at Application fees.

When we assess your application we would like to learn:

  • How your academic and professional background meets the demands of Pharmaceutics
  • Why you want to study Pharmaceutics at graduate level
  • What particularly attracts you to this programme at the UCL School of Pharmacy
  • Where you would like to go professionally with your degree and how this programme meets these needs

Together with essential academic requirements, the personal statement is your opportunity to illustrate whether your reasons for applying to this programme match what the programme will deliver.

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate programmes (or one application for the Law LLM) in any application cycle.

Choose your programme

Please read the Application Guidance before proceeding with your application.

Year of entry: 2025-2026

Apply for this course

Got questions? Get in touch

School of Pharmacy
School of Pharmacy

sop.pgt@ucl.ac.uk

UCL is regulated by the Office for Students.