D2L Pharma Research Solutions Pvt. Ltd. is turning to hospitals in the tier II and III cities to conduct phase II and phase III trials as the hospitals and doctors in metros are not able to handle increasing number of such jobs.
The company's dedicated Site Management Organisation, D2L-SMO which has tied-up with hospitals in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai has over 30 sites to conduct trials in varied therapeutic areas.
Going by the increasing number of trials coming into India, D2Ladopted a strategic shift to look at medical centres in small and medium cities. These include Vijayawada, Coimbatore, Kurnool, Madurai, Bhopal, Indore, Pondicherry, Kochi, Trichy and Nasik where a number of global trials for ENT, diabetes, cancer and cardiology are going on.
Hospitals in the small towns and medium sized cities have a naïve patient population with no exposure to advanced medication. There is a large pool of qualified and experienced doctors who are keen to take on clinical research. D2L has taken on the onus to train them in ICH-GCP guidelines.
The Indian clinical trial sector expected to touch $2billion by 2010. It is estimated that only 800 doctors are trained to conduct clinical trials. There are 644 global trials going on in India with many more expected from the domestic pharma sector.
"Going by the pace of growth, it is proving to be impossible for many hospitals to undertake a trial and hence our move to small cities. SMO is a nascent concept in India with huge potential for growth. D2L's 'multi-site, multi-specialty' model helps to maximise economies of scale for efficient clinical trial execution at multiple centres for global pharma majors and clinical research organisations(CROs)," Dr Sashi Kiran, managing director, D2L Pharma Research Solutions told Pharmabiz.
The biggest advantage for patients when trials are conducted in small cities is access to free drugs and investigation.
D2L-SMO offers quality services to investigators to execute the study successfully. Regular investments are made to upgrade the trial sites to suit protocol specific requirements and impart training to execute trials proficiently.
In order to capitalize on the available expertise in the country, D2Lhas entered into partnerships with InterVein Laboratories, Ahmedabad to offer an integrated platform in clinical services.
The company also offers consultancy in analytical solutions and protocol designs for US and EU companies.
The company has invested Rs. 30 lakh to move into its new corporate office in Bangalore. It has a branch office in Hyderabad and plans to enter either Mumbai or Pune. Its UK office is also in the process of being set-up. Efforts are also on to offer a comprehensive training to doctors to create qualified investigators, stated Deepak. H, co-founder and CEO,D2L.The setting up clinical research units in India by Pfizer, Novartis, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, GSK, Aventis and Merck opens up major opportunities for SMOs, Shekhar Gupta, co-founder and COO, D2L. Other than D2L, Excel Lifesciences, Odyssey and Synexus are the leading SMOs in the country.