The clinical research outsourcing is the next big thing in India’s growth story after information technology and the industry offers tremendous potential for Kerala, according to a leading entrepreneur here.

“All major pharmaceutical companies in the world have started coming to India shopping for clinical research outsourcing partners and it’s high time we took the initiative to grab the opportunity,” said K Arun Kumar, managing director of the Mir Group.

According to a recent study by Ernst & Young for the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FICCI), the clinical research services market in India is growing at 21% compared to 7.5% globally. With India becoming a favoured destination, some 50 companies offer one or more allied services.
Kumar’s Mir Lifescience, which is setting up a new biopharmaceutical plant in Jubail, Saudi Arabia, primarily to manufacture monoclonal antibody drugs as a contract service, is a new entrant in the industry.

Clinical research in India is expected to grow into a $1bn business by the end of 2010 as pharmaceutical companies in Europe and the US find it attractive to outsource clinical trials to India thanks to its large patient population, faster patient recruitment times for clinical trials and significantly lower cost of trials.

Mir Group which is diversified into real estate and construction, consultancy, tourism, hospitality, infrastructure, international trade, education and energy solutions is now into clinical research, training and manufacturing as well. “We expect a massive demand for clinical research professionals making it an interesting career option with massive growth potential,” Kumar said.

Indian clinical research organizations (CROs) are now doing more complex and challenging studies contributing value addition to the drug development programs of their clients. Multinationals like Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Astrazeneca, Glaxo SmithKline and Bayer now get allied services work done in India.
Pharmaceutical giants are attracted by huge cost advantage in India. A data entry operator here costs around US$10-20 an hour compared to $30-50 in the developed economies while bio-statistician and medical writing professional charges are around $30-70 per hour in India as against US$100-150 in western countries.
“India currently is the fastest growing destination for clinical research and so the demand for professionals in this field is growing rapidly. Clinical research is going to be a major provider of jobs here after IT” said Dr Shaji George, director of Mir Lifescience.

The company’s clinical research facility will be operational at its existing laboratory in Bangalore, Karnataka. The company aims to use its technology platform to support “clinical trials reducing time and cost and increasing the odds of success”.

Source:http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=376443&version=1&template_id=40&parent_id=22