Government of India is planning to set up a Special Pathogen Free (SPF) monkey facility on the outskirts of Mumbai as part of its plan to develop a clinical research centre on Private-Public Partnership (PPP) model, it is learnt.

Dr K Sathyanarayanan, director of Association of Clinical Research Organisations (ACRO) Hyderabad said the government of India is trying to encourage drug development, and for this it is ready to share 50 per cent of the cost to develop the infrastructure towards achieving the goal. The vision of the ACRO is to establish India as a global sourcing hub for Contract Research.

He said the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) has initiated efforts to form an Association of all the Clinical Research Organisations operating in the country. There are now 25 members in the association from across the country and bi-monthly meetings are held either in Hyderabad or in Mumbai. According to him, the CII is drafting a white paper to submit to the government of India, and the guidelines that would be issued later would help augment regulatory clearances. ACRO will strive to promote quality research, uphold ethics ,share best practices, Promote synergies amongst members, deliberate and act upon common concerns, specially with regards to Indian regulations and Industry environment.

It will represent the interests of Indian CROs to regional, national and international authorities and organizations. It is an independent  organization with a global perspective, he said.

He said the objectives of the association is to promote reputation and recognition of Indian CROs , establish benchmarks and share best practices, develop activity metrics (market evolution, market analysis), and develop relations with decision makers to get comprehensive and reliable predictions, etc.