In order to augment the fledgling clinical research sector in the
country, which has tremendous growth potential, the central government
will consider to provide a loan upto 70 per cent towards setting up
clinical research facilities in the country.

The government's
overtures in this regard to assist the industry comes in the wake of the
fact that even though Indian pharmaceutical industry has reported a
turnover of Rs.1 lakh crore, it has to go a long was in the field of drug research.

“Although
50 per cent of the turnover of this industry is from exports, we still
have a long way to grow in the field of drug research. Besides, the
quality of research should match international standards, like those of
South Korea and China, who are miles ahead of our country in clinical
research. Nevertheless, the government is ready to provide a loan of up
to 70 per cent towards setting up clinical research facilities,” said Dr
Samathanam, Advisor, Department of Science and Technology (DST),
government of India. Dr Samathanam was speaking at a seminar on
'clinical trials' organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry
(CII) recently.

Besides, the government is also 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 this
goal. It is also planning to set up a special pathogen free (SPF) monkey
facility in the outskirts of Mumbai, Dr Samathanam said.

Dr
Samathanam also invited the Association of Clinical Research
Organizations (ACRO) to step in to design the guidelines on clinical
trials which would help augment regulatory clearances in the country.
Touching upon the need for doing clinical research in an ethical manner,
and also to emphasize on regulatory transparency, Dr Samathanam invited
all stakeholders of the industry to help design guidelines for
regulatory clearances. “Clinical research cannot be complete without
ethics being observed. At the same time, focus should be laid on
training researchers about processes and ethics, so that the outcome is
optimum,” he said.

Citing the example of South Korea, whose
infrastructure and easy government-intent in R&D had helped push the
country to have a growth rate of 36 per cent in the time period from
2005-2009, ACRO chairman Apurv Shah said, “while the progress made by
India in clinical research since 2005 cannot be ignored, our growth rate
has been a meager 16 per cent. A target of reaching a $1 billion-mark
was set in 2005, but our country is nowhere close to it; we need to have
a growth rate of 40-60 per cent to meet the target of $1.5 billion by
2015. So it is essential that we ask ourselves, collectively as an
industry, about the areas where we lagging behind and the ways in which
we can overcome the barriers to growth”.