Regulatory affairs in the pharmaceutical industry is both a familiar and unfamiliar world. The industry is well known as being one of the most highly regulated, revolving around the approval of new compounds that emerge from the drug development pipeline by national or multinational regulatory bodies. But telling someone that you work in regulatory affairs will usually elicit either an unknowing silence from early-stage employees or a cynical look from later-stage employees, no doubt mumbling about how you interfere with research and development.