Roche Scientific Company (I) Ltd (RSCPL or Roche India) has for the first time-included nephrologists and virologists in its Perceptorship programme for India, according to the company's managing director Dr GL Telang. Till now only oncologists were included in the programme, which was introduced in the country in 2001.

In Perceptorship, eminent physicians and medical students from across the country are selected by Roche India and are sent to US and Europe for understanding the latest treatment technologies. These are advance programmes for state-of-the-art therapies practiced in leading international institutions, which are made available to students, medical practitioners across the world. The programme also involves interaction with well known US and Europe-based physicians.

On the basis of a similar programme, students from universities like Oxford and Stanford would be invited to India to undergo programmes on subjects like AIDS and other diseases affecting poorer countries like India. Recently a fresh batch of students from these universities finished their project on AIDS in India.

As part of its research programme, Roche will begin clinical trials on its promising breast cancer product Xeloda across all the SAARC countries in the first quarter of 2004. It has already started writing protocol for the trials.

Roche recently announced that under its proposed EAP programme, solid tumour drug Avastin and cyto-megalovirus drug Valcyte would be made available by the company for needy Indian patients before their international approval, providing hands on experience to physicians and additional safety data for the company. Roche will launch Avastin in India in the second quarter of 2004 and Valcyte in the third quarter. The third product to hit the Indian market through the EAP programme would be Tarceva an oral cancer drug, said Dr Telang. Roche-owned Genentech recently filed Avastin with the USFDA after trials showed improved survival rates for colon cancer patients.