iGATE Clinical Research International, one amongst top three clinical trials management companies in India, is in the process of scaling up operations in the country with an investment of over US$ 2 million.
iGate, which has a team of about 60 professionals and a central laboratory at present, is setting up a 30, 0000 sq.ft new facility at Powai in Mumbai, which includes a modern office complex, advanced data management centre, laboratories, pharmacy and archives-retrieval system. Further, the company will increase its team from the current 60 to 120 and the facility would be ready for operations by August, this year, Dr Vasudev Ginde, president and managing director of iGate International told Pharmabiz.
He said iGate generated 8 lakh pages of data during the last year and five of the top 20 multinational companies are its clients, which includes companies like Pfizer, Eli Lilley, Bayer, Roche etc. iGate has so far completed 69 trials in India in a broad range of therapeutic areas which have been part of global drug development programs. This includes the successful completion of phase I studies of the Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP), a partnership between the World Health Organization (WHO) and Seattle-based non-profit, PATH, and the Serum Institute of India Limited (SIIL). The Phase I clinical trial of the new conjugate vaccine against serogroup A meningococcus, a bacterium that causes deadly meningitis epidemics, was conducted among 72 people at Nair's hospital, KEM hospital and Nizam's Institute.
Another major trial was the oral insulin project. The company is also conducting 9 studies and 16 lab trials related to the disease segments of cardiology, CNS, gastro and renal transplants. So far, almost 98% of the revenue of iGate is from trial projects of overseas companies, said Ginde.
With offices in both Pittsburgh and Mumbai, iGATE Clinical Research offers clients a convenient interface for conducting clinical trials in India. iGATE Clinical Research Pittsburgh, focuses on business development, US regulatory compliance, contracting and client communications. Whereas, iGATE Clinical Research, Mumbai focuses on clinical research service delivery, providing expertise in local resources and requirements for clinical trials.
iGATE Clinical Research International is amongst the first clinical trials management companies to establish operations in India, beginning as DiagnoSearch in 1997. iGate International was formed in October 2003 with iGATE's acquisition of two companies, the Pittsburgh Clinical Research Network (PCRN), Pittsburgh and DiagnoSearch founded by Dr.Ginde.
He said the Indian CRO's have a bright chance in future considering the immense growth of the industry in double digits in the recent years. However, timely delivery schedules and ability of the CROs to abide by the requirements of the sponsors and regulatory agencies are an important area of concern. The Indian CRO scene, which emerged only in the last few years, could witness consolidation in near future and the number of players could shrink from the current over 100 to about 25 to 30 players. It is estimated that the revenues in outsourcing and spend on clinical research in India would swell to a one billion dollar industry by 2010 from the current over a 100 million US dollar industry.