Institute of Clinical Research India (ICRI) is investing around Rs 65 crore for a new campus in Bangalore. The Greenfield project on 16 acres is expected see its construction start by December end. The project will have a full fledged institute including a student's hostel with capacity for 600 residents.
In addition, there will be a 24-bed facility to conduct clinical trials. The facility, referred to as a 'Site' in clinical research parlance will cater to the needs of the clinical research organizations (CROs).
The construction is expected to begin in December and will take 24 months to be commissioned, stated Shiv Raman Dugal, chairman, Institute of Clinical Research India.
For the project to take off, ICRI is dependent on financial institutions to raise its funds. Right now it has managed to seek a tem loan of Rs 18 crore from ICICI Bank. Reckitt Coleman which has six per cent equity in ICRI has infused Rs 12 crore and the remaining will sourced from other financing options. The company had slated to go public in 2009, but current scenario has dissuaded any effort on that front, he added.
The clinical research training major has a dedicated research management arm known as IRL which handles the clinical trial business. The company is gearing up to open six more Sites across the country and also abroad.
IRL has six Sites offices across the country. Except for Mumbai these Site units are operating out of hospitals at Bangalore, Mangalore, Patna, Bikaner and Wardha. Presently, there are 30 trials on for diabetes, hypertension, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, Rhinitis and dermatology. IRL is engaged in recruiting patients and having a ready team of doctors to undertake the trials.
Going by the increasing number of clinical trials in the country, the company is in the process of identifying six more locations to open up Site offices in India. Each facility will require between Rs 1-3 crore investment, stated Dugal.
On the international front, the company already has an affiliate Site Management Organization in the UK and 9 at Singapore. It is in the process of awaiting approval from the Investment Board of Bangladesh where it plans to open three Sites offices to undertake clinical trials in infectious diseases, diabetes and cancer.
The main objective of IRL is to provide the patients and doctors and conduct the trial. Over 80 percent of the clinical trail assignments in the country are being conducted at Site offices.
While there is good infrastructure to conduct the trials, the biggest challenge is manpower. The industry needs at least 50,000 qualified personnel to handle the volume of clinical trial business. India is providing to be the most preferred destination because of its economies of scale. Conducting a trials in India is at least 40 percent cheaper than the developed world. Annually the two-year-old ICRI trains 3,500 students and 40 percent are hired immediately for assignments at the Site offices and the remaining candidates are employed at 180 companies in the healthcare-pharma space, said Dugal.