Clinical trials going to India

I’ve mentioned a couple of times before that drug companies are beginning to move their clinical trials to India and that India is eager to get the business. An article in today’s Wall Street Journal give some insight into this emerging practice.

India’s huge population allows new-drug studies to be completed much faster, says A.S. Arvind, chief operating officer of Clinigene International Ltd., a four-year-old clinical-trial concern outside Bangalore that is hoping to cash in on the trend.

Shepherding a novel drug through the phases of clinical research, from initial study to post-launch follow-up, eats up an enormous chunk of the total development cost, 40% by some industry estimates. To control those expenses, drug companies are actively looking beyond the U.S., Europe, and Japan — places where new drugs traditionally have been tested — to the world’s two most populous countries, China and India, as well as to Eastern Europe and Brazil.

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The problem with the West is you can’t get enough numbers — and the cost is high,” says Ramananda S. Nadig, medical director at Eli Lilly’s Indian arm. “India is going to get a bigger chunk of the business, especially in certain therapeutic areas where we have expertise.”

The cost of clinical trials averages 50% to 60% less there.

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