Разница есть, правда западные фармацевтические компании могут производить лекарственные препараты:
"A pharmaceutical company, or drug company, is a commercial business whose focus is to research, develop, market and/or distribute drugs, most commonly in the context of healthcare."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmaceutical



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Note added at 29 mins (2007-07-06 05:35:53 GMT)
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Похоже, что на западе значение сильно отличается от приведенного Вами. Фармакологи занимаются разработкой и испытаниями новых препаратов и веществ, а фармацевты их производят, вносят небольшие изменения в состав и т.д.

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Note added at 3 hrs (2007-07-06 08:23:19 GMT)
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Дал сссылку на wiki, там всё просто описано и есть ссылки на сопутствующие темы.

лично мне встречались следующие варианты. Разница между ними не очень существенная, но все же...

1. Pharma Company - гиганты, занимающиеся И производством И разработкой И продажей - топовые компании типа Пфайзер или ГСК
http://www.google.com/search?hl=ru&client=opera&rls=en&hs=36...

2. Pharmaceutical Company - то же, что и п.1, но рангом пониже

3. Pharmaceutical distribution company - компания, занимающаяся преимущественно дистрибуцией препаратов

4. Pharmaceutical manufacturer - обычно некрупный производитель, которому РАЗРАБОТКА как правило не по карману, и обычно они клепают дженерики

Не люблю ссылки на Вики, но тем не менее :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pharmaceutical_companie...
Внизу под таблицей - почти исчерпывающий список основных производителей и торговцев, можно посмотреть кто есть кто

В обоих вариантах. Нет такого разделения чисто в английском, если это не калькированные переводы. Когда речь идет об исследованиях, это отдельно оговаривается. Pharmacological употребляется в основном в значениях вроде treatments:

pharmacology (Encyclopædia Britannica)

branch of medicine that deals with the interaction of drugs with the systems and processes of living animals, in particular, the mechanisms of drug action as well as the therapeutic and other uses of the drug.

The first Western pharmacological treatise, a listing of herbal plants used in classical medicine, was made in the 1st century AD by the Greek physician Dioscorides. The medical discipline of pharmacology derives from the medieval apothecaries, who both prepared and prescribed drugs. In the early 19th century a split developed between apothecaries who treated patients and those whose interest was primarily in the preparation of medicinal compounds; the latter formed the basis of the developing specialty of pharmacology. A truly scientific pharmacology developed only after advances in chemistry and biology in the late 18th century enabled drugs to be standardized and purified. By the early 19th century, French and German chemists had isolated many active substances—morphine, strychnine, atropine, quinine, and many others—from their crude plant sources. Pharmacology was firmly established in the later 19th century by the German Oswald Schmeiderberg (1838–1921). He defined its purpose, wrote a textbook of pharmacology, helped to found the first pharmacological journal, and, most importantly, headed a school at Strasbourg that became the nucleus from which independent departments of pharmacology were established in universities throughout the world. In the 20th century, and particularly in the years since World War II, pharmacological research has developed a vast array of new drugs, including antibiotics, such as penicillin, and many hormonal drugs, such as insulin and cortisone. Pharmacology is presently involved in the development of more effective versions of these and a vast array of other drugs through chemical synthesis in the laboratory. Pharmacology also seeks more efficient and effective ways of administering drugs through clinical research on large numbers of patients.

During the early 20th century, pharmacologists became aware that a relation exists between the chemical structure of a compound and the effects it produces in the body. Since that time, increasing emphasis has been placed on this aspect of pharmacology, and studies routinely describe the changes in drug action resulting from small changes in the chemical structure of the drug. Because most medical compounds are organic chemicals, pharmacologists who engage in such studies must necessarily have an understanding of organic chemistry.

Important basic pharmacological research is carried out in the research laboratories of pharmaceutical and chemical companies. After 1930 this area of pharmacological research underwent a vast and rapid expansion, particularly in the United States and Europe.

The work of pharmacologists in industry deals also with the exhaustive tests that must be made before promising new drugs can be introduced into medical use. Detailed observations of a drug's effects on all systems and organs of laboratory animals are necessary before the physician can accurately predict both the effects of the drug on patients and their potential toxicity to humans in general. The pharmacologist does not himself test the effects of drugs in patients; this is done only after exhaustive tests on animals and is usually conducted by physicians to determine the clinical effectiveness of new drugs. Constant testing is also required for the routine control and standardization of drug products and their potency and purity.

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А вот кусок здоровенной статьи из той же Encyclopædia Britannica.

pharmaceutical industry

А complex of processes, operations, and organizations engaged in development and manufacture of drugs and medications.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines a drug or pharmaceutical preparation as

any substance or mixture of substances manufactured, sold, offered for sale, or represented for use in . . . the diagnosis, treatment, mitigation, or prevention of disease, abnormal physical state or the symptoms thereof in man or animal; [and for use in] . . . restoring, correcting, or modifying organic functions in man or animal.

The same organization defines a pharmaceutical specialty as “a simple or compound drug ready for use, and placed on the market under a special name or in a characteristic form.”

The modern pharmaceutical industry began in the 19th century with the discovery of highly active medicinal compounds that could most efficiently be manufactured on a large scale. As these compounds replaced herbal medicines of earlier times, the occurrence and severity of such diseases as pernicious anemia, rheumatic fever, typhoid fever, lobar pneumonia, poliomyelitis, syphilis, and tuberculosis were greatly reduced. Pharmaceutical industry research has greatly aided medical progress; of the 66 most valuable drugs introduced since aspirin in 1899, 57 were discovered and then produced in industrial laboratories.
History

The earliest records of medicinal plants and minerals are those of the ancient Chinese, Hindu, and Mediterranean civilizations. In 2735 BC the Chinese emperor Shen Nung wrote an herbal in which he described the antifever capabilities of a substance known as Ch'ang Shang, since shown to contain antimalarial alkaloids. The school of alchemy that flourished in Alexandria in the 2nd century BC could prepare white lead (lead carbonate) from litharge, arsenic from realgar (arsenic disulfide), and mercury by roasting cinnabar (mercuric sulfide) in a current of air. It is recorded in De materia medica,a book of the 1st century BC, that verdigris (basic cupric acetate) and cupric sulfate were prescribed as medicinal agents. Remarkably, cupric sulfate is still used in medicine today.

Many crude drugs still used now, such as ipecacuanha root (ipecac), were known and employed by the ancients. The Egyptians treated constipation with senna pods and castor oil and employed caraway and peppermint to relieve indigestion. The Greek physician Galen (c.AD 130–c.200) included hyoscyamus, opium, squill (a plant drug used as an expectorant, cardiac stimulant, and diuretic), and viper toxin among other drugs in his apothecary shop. He also insisted on purity in drugs—i.e.,the right variety and age of the botanical specimens.

Pharmaceutical practice improved markedly in the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1546 the first pharmacopoeia, or collected list of drugs and medicinal chemicals with directions for making preparations from them, appeared in Nuremberg (Nürnberg, West Germany). Previous to this time, medical preparations had varied in concentration and even in constituents. Other pharmacopoeias followed, in Basel (1561), Augsburg (1564), and London (1618). Despite its name, the London Pharmacopoeia was mandatory for the whole of England and thus was the first example of a national pharmacopoeia.

In 1617 the Society of Apothecaries, London, was founded, marking the emergence of pharmacy as a distinct profession. The separation of apothecaries from grocers was authorized by King James I; only a member of the society could keep an apothecary's shop and make or sell pharmaceutical preparations. In 1841 the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, London, was founded, placing the education and training of the pharmacist on a proper scientific basis. Today, pharmaceutical practice and education are carefully supervised throughout the world.

Known as “Hoffman's drops,” ether was first employed as an anesthetic in 1842; chloroform followed soon afterward in 1847. Alkaloid compounds were also isolated from plant sources during this period. Narcotine was obtained from opium by a French pharmacist in 1803 and was followed by morphine in about 1804, emetine and strychnine (about 1817), brucine and piperine (1819), colchicine and quinine (1820), nicotine (1828), atropine (1833), cocaine (1860), and physostigmine (1867). Isolation of these potent compounds was a milestone in pharmaceutical progress for three reasons. First, accurate doses could now be administered; this had been impossible previously with crude drugs of unknown and variable composition. Second, toxic effects due to impurities in crude drugs could now be eliminated when pure compounds were used; and third, knowledge of the chemical structure of these drugs led to attempts at laboratory synthesis, which led in turn to discovery of valuable related compounds.

Joseph Lister, in England, opened the modern era of antiseptic surgery in 1865 when he used phenol (carbolic acid) to prevent infections. In 1869 the soporific properties of chloral hydrate, the first synthetic hypnotic (sleep-producing drug), were discovered. In 1874 it was found that organic nitrites relax the blood vessels, and, in 1875, salts of salicylic acid were introduced as remedies for fever. The year 1879 witnessed the introduction of saccharin, still in use today as a sweetening agent for diabetic patients. The simple compound acetanilide, introduced in 1886, was one of the first analgesic-antipyretic drugs (i.e.,reducing both pain and fever) to be used but was later replaced by the less toxic phenacetin in 1887, by aspirin in 1899, and all of these to some extent by acetaminophen (paracetamol) in 1956. The hypnotic sulfonal (sulfonmethane) was discovered about 1888, followed a few years later by barbital; this latter led to a whole series of barbiturates, of which phenobarbital is the best known.

Cocaine was the only known potent local anesthetic until about 1900, when the much simpler compound benzocaine was introduced. The closely related local anesthetic procaine followed early in the 20th century.

In 1909 arsphenamine, highly effective against syphilis, was introduced. Since arsphenamine is both insoluble in water and unstable, further work led to neoarsphenamine in 1912, a soluble derivative. Many other synthetic drugs followed, among which was the hormone progesterone, synthesized in 1934. Some thousands of similar compounds have since been prepared, some of which are used as oral contraceptives.

In 1935 it was discovered that sulfanilamide (Prontosil) stopped the growth of bacteria. Over 6,000 derivatives of sulfanilamide—the sulfonamides, or sulfa drugs—were prepared and tested for their antibacterial properties. Today, the sulfonamides have partially been superseded by antibiotics, of which the first was penicillin, first isolated in 1941. In 1959, 6-aminopenicillanic acid was isolated for the first time; this led to production of many semisynthetic penicillins such as ampicillin, carbenicillin, cloxacillin, methicillin, oxacillin, and phenethicillin. Also used as antibiotics are compounds known as cephalosporins, the first of which was isolated in 1961.
Classification of pharmaceutical products

Drugs may be classified in one of three ways: by chemical group (e.g.,alkaloids, mentioned above); pharmacologically (i.e.,by the way they work in the body); and according to their therapeutic uses. Pharmacological and therapeutic classifications show considerable divergence, as drugs that act upon the body in different ways may bring about the same desired therapeutic result. Furthermore, classification by therapeutic usage is complicated by the fact that a drug may be used to combat more than one ailment. The antimalarial compound primaquine, for example, may also be employed to relieve arthritis. Some familiar drugs classified by therapeutic use include aspirin, an analgesic, or painkiller; benzocaine, a local anesthetic; magnesium carbonate, an antacid; charcoal, an antiflatulent; penicillin, used against syphilis; calcium lactate, a calcium supplement; hexachlorophene, a deodorant; phenolphthalein, a laxative; levulose, a nutrient; cascara sagrada, a purgative; phenobarbital, a sedative; and thiamine hydrochloride, a vitamin.
Production of pharmaceuticals
Raw materials and their purity

Pharmaceutical raw materials may be plant, animal, or other biological products; inorganic elements and compounds; or organic compounds. If the raw material is “official”—that is, if it is the subject of a monograph in a pharmacopoeia or national formulary—then the minimum acceptable degree of chemical purity is specified. Very often, however, because some raw materials at specified levels may begin to decompose after a time, purification far exceeds these minimum requirements. If extra purification is inconvenient, a preservative may be added. If the raw material is not the subject of an official monograph, then physical or chemical specifications or both are drawn up by the manufacturer in accordance with the pharmaceutical requirements of the finished product, on lines similar to the official monographs.

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Note added at 9 hrs (2007-07-06 14:57:49 GMT)
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вот ответ американского врача:

The word pharmacological refers to drugs and their action on the body. This is generally used in the professional sense of medications.

The word pharmaceutical refers more to the medications, their sale, distribution, and the business. Pharmaceutical company is the usual expression.

фармакологическая -- это более научное. Но не употребляют "фармакологическая компания" на английский. Может быть, “pharmaceutical research company” (одер "pharmacological research company").
(Some companies do only pharmaceutical research, outsourced from, for example, pharmaceutical companies.)

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Note added at 8 hrs (2007-07-06 13:56:17 GMT)
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(Proz.com has not acceded to my repeated requests for more room for answer headlines.)

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Note added at 14 hrs (2007-07-06 19:20:47 GMT)
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(на английском)

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Note added at 19 hrs (2007-07-07 00:58:00 GMT)
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(или)

Разница есть, и разница – существенная: как уже верно отмечали другие, «фармакологический» – «имеющий отношение к ИЗУЧЕНИЮ лекарств», а «фармацевтический» – «имеющий отношение к производству и распространению лекарств».