'We are leading from the front'

The 4th International Conference on Clinical Research recently took place in Mumbai and undertook a volley of vital topics. Arshiya Khan and Aashruti Kak report

"Clinical trials market will drive the growth of the clinical diagnostics market," predicted Dr Rajat Goyal, Vice President-Clinical Operations, Asia Pacific, ICON Clinical Research, at the International Conference on 'Global Trends in clinical research' on 14 and 15 March, 2008, in Mumbai. The global demand for clinical research to be undertaken in India has expanded significantly over the last five years. A considerable interest has been focused upon 'outsourcing' of clinical research to India. The domestic pharmaceutical industry has also rapidly begun evolving into a global player. This conference highlighted the fundamental opportunities and challenges faced by all, conducting clinical research in India through solution driven sessions presented by experts, from industry and academia, with practical global experience.

According to an ICRI study conducted recently, the clinical industry is growing at an unparalleled rate. It has opened new vistas of employment for a large number of trained professionals. The clinical trials market worldwide is worth over $52 billion and the industry has employed an estimated 21,00,000 people in the US and over 70,000 in the UK, and they form one third of the total research and development staff. There are more than 2,50,000 positions vacant globally and annual salaries range from $40,000 to $1,00,000, indicating that it is a well-paid career. A McKinsey report estimates that by the year 2010 the volume of clinical research business in India is expected to be around $1,000 million. ICRI views that this would translate into the opening up of 50,000 new career opportunities for life sciences and medical graduates in India.

The conference was inaugurated by Dr R K Srivastava, Director General, Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. The event was organised by the Institute of Clinical Research (India), ICRI, India's premiere institution in clinical research studies, in partnership with Indian Council for Medical Research. It was attended by national and international experts from the pharma industry, academia, Government and regulatory bodies.

Opportunities for drug discovery and clinical development in India and role of Government agencies was discussed at length by G J Samathanam, Advisor, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, while K K Tripathi, Advisor, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, deliberated upon the opportunities and challenges in the biotechnology landscape in India. Dr Ramananda S Nadig, President, Triesta Sciences, Bangalore, said, "Today, we, in India, are being forced to be innovative, because we are leading from the front. Economic fundamentals are about to be altered." While talking about opportunities, challenges and ethical issues in the field of stem cell research, he said, "Regenerative medicines are finding acceptance world over and we have an excellent platform for genomic research as new human models for various diseases will be formed and new alternates to genetic pharmacological and toxicological screens will be developed. We have indeed moved from a stone age to a clone age."

Other speakers present at the conference were V Muthuswamy, Senior Deputy Director, ICMR, Government of India; Stanley A Edlavitch, Professor of Epidemiology and Director Graduate Training, USA; Diana Anderson, President and CEO, DL International, USA (in cooperation with FDA); Suresh Bowalekar, Managing Director, Pharmanet; Nimita Limaye, Vice President, CDM and Medical Writing, SIRO and Bala Sankaranarayanan, Director-Life Sciences Solutions and Consulting, Cognizant, among others.

Dr S K Gupta, Dean and Director General, ICRI, spoke on the India advantage. He elaborated on India emerging as a key player in the clinical research market on a global platform. "This conference here today aims to serve as an international and neutral forum to address current solid scientific research in India pertaining to global development of drugs and biologics," he said. The speakers also focused on the real-world issues facing clinical research in India and wished to develop a consensus on how India should move forward to ensure efficient, accurate, auditable

and ethical clinical research data, besides discussing the global trends in clinical research. The conference ended with only one message that "the world's fastest growing market is not where it is expected to be, but at the bottom of the pyramid." And so, the only way we can grow is through investment in people.

arshiya.khan@expressindia.com
aashruti.kak@expressindia.com