In its endeavours to generate awareness of clinical research as a specialty and its scope in India, Indian Society for Clinical Research (ISCR), a not-for-profit association of organisations concerned with ethical conduct of clinical trials, has launched its Mumbai chapter recently. The Mumbai chapter is expected to act as headquarters of the western region. Besides, ISCR is expected to launch its chapters in Hyderabad and Ahmedabad in the near future.

The launch of Mumbai chapter comes close on heels of ISCR's launch of Bangalore and Delhi chapters, the headquarters of the southern and the northern regions, respectively. ISCR was formed in 2005.

"The launch of Mumbai chapter is an important event for ISCR, as the association is becoming stronger day-by-day. It will work towards representing the industry to the government and development of clinical research in the country," said Dr SM Sapatnekar, convener, ISCR Mumbai chapter. Dr Sapatnekar is also the director of Clinical Research Education and Management Academy (CREMA), a leading institution that provides education in the area of clinical research.

The association has separate councils to look after areas like training, regulatory, media and events, ethics, clinical data management & bio-statistics and investigation. As of now, ISCR boasts of membership from 18 organisations, including Astra Zeneca, CREMA, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Pfizer, Neeman, Quintiles and ClinInvent. In addition, the association has also support from 325 individual members.

"The number becomes significant as more than 70 per cent of clinical research work in the country is carried out by ISCR members," noted Dr Sapatnekar. According to a McKinsey study, the Indian clinical research market is currently worth $300 million and is expected to grow to $2 billion by 2010.

"The basic objectives of ISCR include generation of awareness of clinical research as a specialty and its scope in India, promotion of education in the field and creation of an online repository of information on clinical research, apart from making adequate representations on behalf of the clinical research industry to the government," said Dr Suresh Menon, president, ISCR and chief scientific officer, Novartis India.

According to NV Ramamurthy, secretary general, ISCR, the association's aim is to increase the number of member organisations to 30 and individual members to 2,000 in the next two years. "Once we achieve this target, ISCR would be one of the biggest representatives of the clinical research industry that is growing very fast," he added.