With clinical research turning into a money spinning activity in the pharmaceutical industry in India, institutions offering training on clinical research services are on the rise. Close to the heels of New Delhi-based Catalyst Clinical Services (CCS), which announced "Professional Diploma courses in Clinical Research," another city-based company, Institute of Clinical Research (India) has come out with a variety of courses catering to the clinical research segment.

While the CCS's interests are not limited to education, ICR (I) is totally devoted to the promotion of clinical research education in the country, it is learnt.

The CCS, which is into clinical trial management and execution, training and development and business process mapping (development of standard operating procedures) has its campus within Delhi. The ICR(I), has developed a full-fledged campus in Dehradun, Uttaranchal, while having its registered office in Delhi.

The institutions are expecting graduates in science disciplines, pharmacy, nursing, medical sciences and allied areas to enroll for their programmes. It is projected that clinical trials industry is all set to boom in India with the change in patent laws from 2005. They point out that clinical trial industry has grown from Rs 100 crores to Rs 250 crores and is expected to touch Rs 5,000 crores by 2010.

According to sources, ICR(I) is offering "dual post graduate qualifications" for their students, which means MBA from a Grade "A" University and a PG Diploma from ICR. While the MBA degree will be from a recognized university, the student will be securing an additional diploma without spending an extra year. The courses offered deal with the area of clinical trial, which is outside the purview of medical pharmacology (clinical trials project management, trial coordination, clinical trial administration, clinical pharmacy, regulatory affairs etc). The courses offered by ICR are MBA + P G Diploma in clinical research, MBA + PG Diploma in Regulatory Affairs, MBA + PG Diploma in Medical Marketing and MBA + PG Diploma in clinical administration.

The Professional Diploma in Clinical Research (PDCR) offered by CCS meanwhile claims to provide a basic level understanding of various clinical trial processes. The company feels that the course is to benefit professionals take up a career as a Clinical Research Associate, Site Coordinator, Data Manager, System Analyst, Medical Advisor, Business Development Manager etc. The course curriculum for PDCR includes an Introduction to Pharmaceutical Medicine, Good Clinical Practice (GCP) Foundations, Drug Regulatory Affairs (Clinical Trials) and Roles & Responsibilities of Clinical Trial Personnel.

Both the institutions claim to be having renowned clinical trial experts on their advisory panels / governing bodies.

Clinical trials are performed to establish the efficacy of new drugs, changes in formulations, dosages, administration method for new drugs etc. The trial consists of the area of medical pharmacology, pharmacy, trial management, trial coordination etc.