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Clinical trials industry witnessing downtrend in India: Dr C Raghu

A Raju, HyderabadSaturday, May 4, 2013, 08:00 Hrs  [IST]

The clinical trial industry in India is currently facing a challenging time and witnessing a downward trend as investors are looking to shift their focus to other liberal destinations like China, Turkey and Malaysia, says Dr C Raghu, director of Prime Hospitals in Hyderabad.

With the activism of media, judiciary and regulatory bodies, 90 per cent of clinical trial industry in India has slowed down. According to Dr C Raghu, chief cardiologists and director of Prime Hospitals, the clinical trial industry is witnessing a downtrend as investors are shifting their focus to other liberal destinations like China, Turkey and Malaysia.

At present, China is leading the clinical trial industry in the world followed by Turkey and Malaysia. These destinations are having liberal regulatory system and the government is also encouraging the pharmaceutical, biotechnology industries to invent and discover innovative drugs and procedures for treating patients suffering from deadly diseases like cancer and AIDS.

Until 2004, the entire world focused towards India for investments in clinical trials, as the country offered huge patient pool with different profiles of diseases. Moreover the cost of drug trials is also very less compared to the western countries. For instance, clinical trials for a standard drug in the United States can cost about $150 million. A similar drug could be tested in India at 60 per cent reduction of that whopping cost.

The officials from Indian drug industry opined that if liberal regulations were allowed the clinical trials industry would have cross more than $1 billion mark by 2015. At present, India is seeing a decline in the number of human trials because of time-consuming government approvals and rising allegations of unethical tests further hindering possibilities of gathering a large sample size of people. Out of 118,804 human clinical trials in 178 countries, less than 2000, or two per cent, are being done in India compared to 9352, or eight per cent, in neighbouring China.

According to a 2009 report by consultancy, Ernst and Young (E&Y) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), India’s clinical trial market was valued at more than $300 million with a compounded annual growth rate of 30 per cent.

While India was seen among the fastest growing clinical research destinations in the world, human drug trials haven’t been monitored closely leading to several unethical practices, forcing the Indian government to strengthen regulations in this area. It can take drug makers several months in India to get a nod for conducting clinical trials.

Top pharmaceutical companies conducting clinical trials in India are Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, Aventis, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Astra Zenica, Eli Lilly, Dr Reddy's, Nicholas Piramal, Cipla and Lupin, according to ASSOCHAM.

 
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