Pune (P&V News Service): While Covid pandemic gave an impetus to clinical trials in India , there is a need for clinical trials to gain more momentum .India has the best of hospital, surgeons, advanced facilities at least in the urban areas and this could help India lead development of drugs in the future opined experts International Trials Day is held on May 20 each year to commemorate the day that James Lind began the first clinical trial in 1747. This laid the foundation for modern Clinical Trial the world over. It is also a day to extend our appreciation to Research volunteers without whom new Drugs and Treatment options would never have evolved.
Dr. Deepa Divekar ( MD, Fellowship Pediatric Neurology), Director of Research and Academics, Sahyadri Hospitals said that the fruits of research and trials are not restricted to viral infections like Covid alone , but extend to common disorders like allergies and life-threatening ones like cancer.
Dr. Ravindra Ghooi (PhD Medicine, MSc Pharmacology), Chairperson- Research Ethics Committee, Sahyadri Super Specialty Hospital this critical stage of creating a new medicine or vaccine or device comes from many years (at times more than a decade) of intensive and supervised research. In the last couple of years the global outbreak of COVID-19 held the entire world as hostage. A paradigm shift was observed globally as emphasis was focused on all fronts at full throttle. Testing RT, PCR, Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) Diagnosis Clinical, Imaging and Lab testing Treatment Monoclonal antibodies, Plasma Exchange + high flow Oxygen ,Prevention Vaccines with novel first of its kind technology to combat the vicious virus.Clinical trials are the need of the day.
He added that one of the major costs in developing a drug is that of clinical trials, wherein new drugs are given to patients, to demonstrate their efficacy and safety. When drugs are developed or clinically tested abroad, the expense is two three times as that in India. In other words a drug could be developed in India, at a vastly lower cost, to suit our pockets. Drug development and clinical trials have been conducted in India since a long time, but this activity has recently taken off, after the government rationalized rules and granted significant packages to promote them. A spin off of this activity is the opportunity it gives to patients to access the drug during trials, before it comes to the market.
Clinical trials bring hope to patients suffering from Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiac disease, Haemophilia, Asthma, Dementia, Epilepsy and a plethora of other diseases. Clinical Trials are the way to the future to deliver newer, safer, and more effective forms of treatment to improve the overall Quality of Life of human race said Dr. Deepa Divekar.
Let us remember, that we have a very large population of sick people who are looking forward for better medicines. As a country, we have the advantage of having world class hospitals, and some of the finest physicians and surgeons that could be found in the world. It is necessary to give our people the benefit of trials opined Dr. Ghooi . Currently Indians account for about 16% of the world population, but only about 2% of the world’s clinical trials are conducted in India. Clinical trials today use a large amount of Information Technology, Indians have demonstrated their competence and superiority in IT. This shows that India has the wherewithal for taking lead in Drug Development too. With all these advantages, India could lead the world in clinical research, it would take time, but we are moving in the right direction.
Dr. Divekar said that the ancillary care that the enrolled patients receive during clinical trials is an added advantage. The more the number of trials in progress means that more patients of this disease will benefit by enrolling in the trials. And more clinical trials, means more drugs at lower prices, and greater opportunities for our people to enrol in them.
