The Mumbai based Clinical Research Education and Management Academy (CREMA) formerly known as Clinical Research Institute is investing Rs 15 crore for setting up three more institutes at Hyderabad, Kolkotta and Ahmedabad. All the three new institutes will start functioning from coming academic year.

India has emerged as one of the important hubs in South East Asia for clinical research with its huge population base, high prevalence of diseases, large pool of talent in medical field and relatively inexpensive work force. The CR industry spells an opportunity of 50,000 jobs by 2010 in India alone and more than 250,000 jobs globally. As per the industry analyst around 70,000 crore is spent on clinical trials every year.

Speaking to Pharmabiz, Vijay Moza, chairman, said, "We are expanding our reach across India. We have planned to set up three more institutes at Hyderabad, Kolkotta and Ahmedabad. We are also setting up one more institute at Delhi which is expected to start by April 2008. Our remaining three institutes will be running from August 2008. We will be starting entrance examination for the new batches from May 2008".

The company will be offering various subjects like, data management, pharmacovigilance and clinical research. The complete course duration will be 15 months and course fees would be 3 lakh. It will run every day two batches which will include 50 students in each batch.

CREMA designed a unique LIFSP (learning, by industry- faculty- student partnership) model that establishes a close relationship between the three entities involved in the process. It has designed an industry-driven curriculum with the leader's objective mind. The curriculum will be upgraded on a regular basis to enable students and practitioners to stay up to date with prevailing practices and technologies impacting clinical research industry. In addition, a novel mentoring system has been devised, whereby members of the faculty comprising specialised with vast exposure to the clinical research industry.

Talking about 10 months performance, Moza, said, "When we started our company that time we kept the target to touch 200 students by year end but currently, in our Bangalore and Mumbai institutes we have total 300 students and continuously we are getting more inquires from students. We do run weekend batches which helps the industry professionals".