Next stop, clinical research

KOCHI: Clinical research is fast emerging as a lucrative career option, given the vast demand-supply gap of research professionals in India. With product patents in place, the drug companies in India are forced to do research on developing molecules on their own.

The international drug companies are finding India with its swelling population, diverse genetics and various diseases a good place to conduct clinical trials.

Another advantage India has, according to experts, is the low cost, which will be just 30-40% of the price for the same work in Europe and the US.

“Most drug companies want persons skilled in research using Western methodology,” says Anil Joseph, chief executive officer & managing director of Kochi-based Inter Ed Faculty of Clinical Research (IFCR), which offers training for a Canadian post graduate diploma in clinical re-search in collaboration with York College of Industry and Technology in Canada.

Mr Joseph claims IFCR as a Indo-Canadian joint venture in clinical research is the only institution in India involved in research, training and placement. “The clinical research field is a Rs 5000-crore industry and the country needs around 50,000 clinical research professionals.

Currently, the turnout is about 300 a year, hardly enough to bridge the gap,” he says. Advanced clinical research needs well-equipped accredited labs and outside the US, India is the only country that has the maximum number of laboratories accredited by US FDA.

IFCR, promoted by a core group of scientists, technologists, doctors, lawyers, educationists and chartered accountants, has trained around 40 professionals since its inception a year ago including ayurvedic doctors. “Many of them are placed in companies like Glaxo, Dr Reddy’s, Quintiles, Johnson and Johnson etc,” he says.

Several qualifications taken in India, it is pointed out, particularly in the medical profession, do not carry any weight when applying for foreign jobs. The overseas companies look for global qualification for appointments.