Symogen India, a pioneer in pharmacovigilance education in the country, is expanding its business into BPO activities including training to pharma companies in the significant areas like setting up pharmcovigilance cells and clinical data management.

"We have already held a couple of corporate training programmes for some companies and many more clients are in touch with us for setting up pharmacovigilance cells as it is gaining importance with the rise in consumer awareness and increased regulations," Symogen India head V K Matta told Pharmabiz.

The company, which launched certificate course in pharmacovigilance and pharmacoepidemiology in 2007, is going to conduct the next course in Delhi soon. "We have already held three courses so far and the response was good. The next course will start by the end of May or June and we have strong team of faculty, including lectures in foreign universities and experts in the field," he said.

The four-month course is open for doctors/Physicians of all disciplines, Post Graduates in pharmacy and bio-sciences, graduates in pharmacy/life sciences with work experience, and junior professionals in pharmaceuticals and IT Industry, clinical research organizations, BPOs, academia and regulatory agencies and the seats will be limited to 30. The course will have hands-on training and mini-workshops.

Besides, with the increasing demand for pharmacovigilance against the backdrop of more stringent rules likely in the area, the company has charted out aggressive plan to extend entire gamut of pharmacovigilance services to the companies. It will include corporate training, consultancy, assistance in setting up pharmacovigilance cells, systems and process, services for signal detection, safety evaluation and risk management, post marketing surveillance, clinical protocol safety section development and due diligence activities among other things.

After the successful international conference on pharmacovigilance in Mumbai in last November, lots of companies have evinced interest in either setting up internal pharmacovigilance cells or strengthening the existing departments. "We have a vast pool of experts who can be helpful to these companies," Matta said. Besides, the company is also ready to extend assistance to the regulatory authorities in the area as there efforts were going on in the DCGI office and health ministry to strengthen the entire pharmacovigilance mechanism on par with the international standards, he added.