Faculty speak
 

By Mr. Amrit B Karmarkar
Corresponding Author Mr. Amrit B Karmarkar
Pharmaceutics, Govt. College of Pharmacy, Karad, Flat 13, Hari Preet CHS, Lane No. 4, Pendsenagar - India 421201
Submitting Author Mr. Amrit B Karmarkar
CLINICAL TRIALS

Current Tends, Clinical Research, Indian Perspective

Karmarkar AB. Current Tends in Clinical Research: Indian Perspective. WebmedCentral CLINICAL TRIALS 2011;2(12):WMC002808
doi: 10.9754/journal.wmc.2011.002808

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License(CC-BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
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Submitted on: 29 Dec 2011 11:07:23 AM GMT
Published on: 29 Dec 2011 06:33:45 PM GMT

Introduction


The new wave of 21st century has brought many upcoming fields in healthcare industry. Clinical Research industry with joining hands with IT industry is becoming largest profit making industry around the world. It is the only industry that has survived in the recent global meltdown. This is evident from the business of $ 250 – 300 billions in the year 2009[1]. Driving force behind this is might be human quest for gaining new knowledge and frustration due to gap in our existing knowledge. 

Global Scenario


Over the years the cost of inventing new drugs (NCEs) or biological is increasing due to global inflation and this is increased from $ 802 billion in 2003 to $ ~1.2 billion in 2010[2]. Due to this high cost incurred the companies around the world are focusing more on development of existing drugs with new dosage forms. Norma Goldfarb conducted a quarterly review of clinical research industry in May 2011[3].According to his research the industry is healthier than it was in the first quarter of 2010. This might be due to the steps taken by leading economies around the globe to reduce inflation and to improve the economic status. But the first quarter of the industry might not be of full relevance unless you have all the details of remaining quarters. This statement will be of great value because of the phenomenon of reducing the USA economic rating from AAA to AA+. This can cause the set back to US based healthcare companies leading to reducing drug development research and hence clinical research ultimately[4].

This situation is same around the many countries in the world. European countries such as Belgium and Bulgaria which conduct pediatric clinical trials especially are also facing regression.

Off shoring Clinical Trials-Indian perspective


Indian FDA and CTRI (Clinical Trials Registry of India) reported dramatic increase in multicentre, multinational clinical trials in India. This is in accordance with current trend of off-shore outsourcing of clinical trials from North America to Eastern Europe, China and India. India offers a promising solution to clinical industry due to its established pharmaceutical and biotech industries environment, contract research, R&D alliances, clinical trials, R&D for neglected diseases, in – licensing of pre-clinical as well as clinical drug molecules, strong IT workforce and data management, and its herbal heritage. Low cost of innovation and development, skilled manpower, large patient pool offers advantage to clinical companies.

In the year 2011, however Indian clinical industry is facing slight lag phase. It might be due to various possible reasons.  India is in the transition state per se. Regulatory approvals in India are taking  around 6- 9 months now a days where as in US it takes 30 days. This is due to bureaucracy in the Indian politics. The outcome of which is Indian largest CRO Siro ClinPharm is opening their site and offices at Malaysia and third world countries such as Philippines, Indonesia, etc.  Also in India, only those drugs that have already passed Phase 1 safety trials in the country of their origin can be tested on Indians. This policy also interfere the Indian Clinical industry growth. The things are getting complicated but after few years the process of approvals and regulations will be streamlined. Despite this case India still has 120 CRO (Contract Research Organizations) focusing clinical studies and 1500 approved sites. This situation will change soon as government is taking these issues seriously by making process streamlined and devising new regulations and provisions.

Technical and scientific trends


From the regulatory point of view, conducting clinical trials now requires lots of approvals. The situation is getting more complex. Thus it is now more difficult for a clinical researcher to adhere all regulations and guidelines. Same is the case with finding and enrolling the subjects in trials. Central Drug Standards Control Organization (CDSCO) has released new draft guidance on approval of clinical trials and new drug s on 24th July, 2011[5]. Prior to that CDSCO has approved a guideline on clinical trials inspection[6]. Thus regulations in India are also becoming tougher and tight in order to have clinical research according to bioethics principles.

New technologies on which research is going on include protein chips, transgenic animals, stem cells, medical devices, bioinformatics, chemoinformatics, in silico experimentations, functional genomics, molecular modeling, pharmacogenomics, protein modeling and proteomics, etc. Impact of which is shift in R&D view from clinical definition of disease diagnosis to molecular definition of disease diagnosis and predisposition.

Therefore to cope up with current competition of drug development and healthcare market, multinationals have devised new plans. For example, Novartis, a world leader in pharmaceutical market has announced “critical path” method for drug development that consist of scientific tools and test that will determine how safe and effective will be drug product is. This model can save costs, streamline clinical trial process thus minimizes risk in specific patient population. Similar initiative called Innovative Medicine Initiative (IMI) has been devised that will be joint venture of public and private collaborations[7].

Miscellaneous issues


Apart from scientific innovations trends can be stated as the central lab requirements getting complex; sponsors demanding more predictability, accountability, transparency and integration from vendors; sponsors are working more closely with institutional review boards (IRBs); adoption of new software like SAS, SPSS, STATA for data processing is increasing; studies are becoming more focused; personalized medication trials increasing in case of oncology; biosimilar trials and observational studies showing increase; more CROs entering Phase I trials; preclinical research is getting hike, etc.[3]

Conclusion


Despite of global meltdown and economic crisis the financial results seem to be encouraging. New inventions and regulations are creating complexities but we will soon get the fruits of it. India is in the transforming phase of preparation of guidelines and rules for clinical research. This will take some time to streamline the clinical research process. New destinations such as Latin America, Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines have been emerging as a hub of clinical research. Industry is still moving with hope and will be able to progress with continuing challenges.

References


1. Centre Watch Report 2009.
2. Adams CP, Brantner VV. Spending on new drug development. Health Economics. 19, 2010, pp. 130–141.
3. Goldfarb NM. Clinical Research Industry Trends. Journal of Clinical Research Best Practices. 7(5), 2011, pp. 1-3.
4. Standard and Poors (http://standardandpoors.com) Accessed online on 10 Sept. 2011.
5. Approval of clinical trials and new drugs. Draft Guidance. Central drugs standard control organization. 24th July, 2011.
6. Clinical Trials Inspection. Central drugs standard control organization. 1st November, 2010.
7. Geysels Y. Novartis Market Research Brochure Trends in clinical research.  (http://www.novartis.com). Accessed online 10 September 2011.

Source(s) of Funding


None

Competing Interests


None

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Current Tends in Clinical Research: Indian
Posted by Dr. Abdul M Ruknudin on 20 Mar 2012 12:07:39 PM GMT

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