Oncology Services India (OSI), a Gujarat-based full service clinical research organisation (CRO), is readying itself to tap the potential oncology clinical research market in India by expanding its reach among oncologists through out the country.

With a focus on the oncology and biotech drug development programme depending on specific requirements, right from pre clinical to post marketing studies, the company has set up its operations in India at Ahmedabad, in the beginning of 2009. The company is planning to expand its reach to oncology specialists from the current 50 to 100 within the year to tap the growing oncology clinical research market in the country.

The oncology clinical trial operation is accounted as 40 per cent of the total USD 300 million-Indian clinical trial market, said Dr Vimal Sanghavi, chief executive officer, OSI. "We have expertise in the niche oncology research segment to explore the growing market in India. We are working out a site network project to collect maximum database of patient population and investigators in the country to establish a strong foothold," said Sanghavi.

The potential is huge, as the industry analysts predict almost 15 per cent of the total global clinical trials will be conducted in India by 2011, generating annual revenue of USD1 billion. With its parent company in Europe, the company is planning to grab clinical trial projects both from US, European pharma companies and the domestic pharma players.

OSI, in the past three months, has initiated around seven clinical research projects in the country both from Indian and overseas drug majors. The company is expected to initiate another four clinical trials in the next five months. The support from Europe will help the company to deliver quality services on par with European standards in the Indian sites, comments Sanghavi.

Availability of large number of therapy-naive patients in various cancer entities, highly qualified and experienced investigators and hospitals in India, coupled with the latest technological infrastructure, will give OSI a competitive edge in the Indian CRO industry. The OSI and OSE will complement technical strengths each other to gain expertise from the synergies in technical areas of clinical research, he added.