By Daniel P. Tapaoan, Jr. 

To better provide future pharmacists with industry experience, Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) has tied up with the BauerTek (BT) Corporation for the Experiential Pharmacy Practice (EPP) program this year.  

A memorandum of agreement was signed between MMSU President Shirley C. Agrupis and BT General Manager Richard Nixon Gomez at the Teatro Ilocandia on January 20. 

In the agreement, BT will accommodate pharmacy students of MMSU College of Health Sciences for a 150-hour in-person internship in its laboratory based in Guiguinto, Bulacan. The CHS Department of Pharmacy has deployed 68 senior pharmacy students to the pharmaceutical firm this month. 

The EPP program requires pharmacy students to undergo experiential learning in institutional, public health and regulatory, community, hospital, and industrial pharmacies. BT Corp is now MMSU’s industrial pharmacy partner.

President Agrupis thanked BauerTek for its commitment, hoping MMSU pharmacy students will further enhance their competencies in their BT internship. 

For his part, Dr. Gomez assured the firm will provide the needed experience and exposure of MMSU pharmacy student-interns, and to make the partnership successful by exploring more opportunities for collaboration soon. 

Last year, MMSU and BT Corp. inked an agreement to cultivate herbal plants needed to produce supplements, cosmetic and pharmaceutical products. The pharma firm is also a member of the MMSU-led Indigenous Food Research Consortium in Region I launched last week. (HLY/JVBT, StratCom)