| The Clinical Research outsourcing (CRO) industry in India is yet in its nascent stage worth about $ 118 mn a year. However with American and European companies keen on cutting the cost of drug development, analysts predict that the Indian CRO industry will be worth $ 380 mn by 2010.
Commenting on the India advantage in the CRO industry Dr Vasudeo Ginde, President and Managing Director of iGate Clinical Research, a Nasdaq-listed company said, "It's not so much that India has a cost arbitrage, it is that India can save significant time to market." With costs ranging between $ 800 mn to $1.2 bn dollars from patenting to approval, reducing the length of research time allows for more time to market the new drug before the patent expires and the drug can be copied by others. In the drug world as little as three months of additional marketing time amounts to sales of $ 50- 100 mn.
Most of the major pharmaceutical companies, including Astra-Zeneca and GlaxoSmithKline, conduct drug trials in India. At present however India still represents a tiny percentage of worldwide clinical studies. Analysts however believe that multinationals will invest further as they gain increased confidence in India's infrastructure and regulatory framework.
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