Globally, all pharma companies are concentrating on new drug development which clearly indicates the trend and necessity for increased services requirement from CROs, says Dr. V V L N Sastry, Country Head, Firstcall India Equity Advisors Pvt. Ltd.The growth of the clinical trial industry in India is extricably linked to the growth of the healthcare industry in India as well as abroad. In particular, increase in research and development activities would lead to a higher demand for clinical trial services, which meet global standards.
The World Trade Organization's (WTO's) intellectual property agreement has signaled a significant change in India's pharmaceutical industry. India has agreed to recognize pharmaceutical patents by 2005, encouraging firms to switch over their efforts from producing generics, to actively engage in research and development of their own.
Currently, about 80 government and privately-owned Indian hospitals are engaged in global and local clinical trials. Observers predict that this figure will increase exponentially in our country to an estimated 14,000 hospitals, 500,000 doctors, 700,000 beds, 162 medical colleges, and 17,000 medical graduates per year.
The total market value of the clinical research performed in India in the year 2001-02 was about US$70-80 mn. The firm increase in CRO activities can be attributed to large subject pools in most major therapeutic areas, improved medical infrastructure, and increased awareness of the ICH Guidelines for Good Clinical Practice and formation of specialized pool of research investigators.
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