Clinical Research Education and Management Academy (CREMA) will now offer professional part time diploma courses focusing on the essential principles of clinical research and standard regulatory controls necessary to study the safety and efficacy of a drug.

The course which is set to commence in the November end will be held for six hours on Saturday's between 2pm and 8 pm.

The course is open only to science, pharmacy, nursing and medical graduates. This will include BSc, MSc in Life Sciences/ Botany/ Zoology/ Chemistry/ IT/ Statistics/ Biostatistics/ Microbiology/ Biochemistry/ Biotechnology/ B Pharm/M Pharm/ Nursing/ MBBS/ MD/ BDS/ BAMS/ BHMS/ BCA/ BPT. Admission to the course will be strictly on merit basis.

CREMA has its centers at Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. CREMA offers courses related to clinical research, including clinical data management and pharmacovigilance. These courses also impart necessary management education to the students.

Right now, there are about 10,000 clinical research professionals working across 280 clinical research organisations in the country. According to a recent McKinsey study, India will need the services of 50,000 CR professionals by 2010-11.