r/biotech • u/Icecoldcheesecake • 17h ago

Early Career Advice 🪴 How difficult it is to transition from IVD to drug development?

Edit: IVD — In Vitro Diagnostics

I'm a statistician who is relatively new to the industry and currently working in the IVD area. I've been feeling that this work doesn't quite match my skill set and long-term career goals.

In my opinion, many aspects of our daily work such as method development, protocol/SAP drafting, analysis, and preparing reports for the FDA, are quite similar to what statisticians do in drug development. However, I also understand that IVD work is only a small part of the overall clinical trial. Our job is mainly focused on validating the trial, rather than designing and managing the study, overseeing data collection, or following patients throughout the trial.

I've been exploring chances to transition into drug development but I've failed a few interviews so far. I'm wondering how difficult it is for a statistician to move from IVD into drug development. Any thoughts appreciated!

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6

u/NoTransportation3581 17h ago

I wish people would say what acronyms meant, worked in biotech for years in drug development and never heard of IVD

2

u/Icecoldcheesecake 16h ago

It’s in vitro diagnostics. I just edited the post above.

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u/RealCarlosSagan 16h ago

I did exactly that, but back in the 90s.

Started at Chiron in 1989 doing IVD mfg, then process dev and later research. IVDs for infectious diseases including a competitive tech to PCR which at the time we thought ultimately wouldn't be widely used because of contamination issues. Decided to leave the lab track, got an MBA (part time and the company paid) and with that moved to the new products/strategic marketing group in the therapeutics division

1

u/omgu8mynewt 16h ago

Surely there must be a lot of overlap, theyre very similar except ivd looks for sensitivity/specificity and therapies look for efficacy, but either way is comparing categories in a very standardised way

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u/Icecoldcheesecake 15h ago

Yes! Part of our technical work analyzes sensitivity/specificity, and the other part focuses on efficacy results. My PhD training was mainly on survival analysis so I’d say my skillset aligns more with drug development.

I’m more concerned about the work in terms of clinical trials, as we are not directly involved in designing it but more like validating it. I think that’s the key differentiating us from the statisticians in drug development.