Developing countries such as India may see a rise in the number of outsourced clinical trials. This prediction has come after the US Pharma giant Pfizer struck a path breaking deal with Parexel, a major player (CRO) in the contract research business. Parexel will provide the US major a range of clinical development service for the next five years. Pfizer also announced that Icon, another large CRO will also be involved in program initiation and management; site and country feasibility; data management and reporting set-up; program study drug logistics; scientific and medical communications; and quality assurance services for Pfizer.
Market analysts predict that this is just the beginning of the trend. Pfizer is not the first company to get into such an arrangement with contract research organizations. The US giant has just entered the race after Sanofi Aventis, GSK and Eli Lilly have struck similar deals. This is a planned strategy of pharma giants, considering the expected future plummet in profits, as many of the blockbuster drugs will lose patents in coming years. Spokesperson from Pfizer said, “Like all of our industry peers, Pfizer is challenged with insufficient productivity and an unsustainable model for innovation.” He added that: “We intend to create novel and flexible partnerships to externalize R&D services.”
Analysts further state that this is going to immediately increase the share of outsourcing from 41% to 49% and by the year 2015 we may see the figure rising up to about 80%. Most of Pharma industry will restrict themselves from R & D service and will land in similar partnerships. This is beneficial in long term for the drug development industry as well. The upcoming trends will certainly have an impact on the conduct of clinical trials, which are expected to increase in case of developing countries. Countries like India, China and Brazil would like to make the most of such opportunities. Given the present scenario with the changing regulatory environment, India can benefit itself the most. If India maintains quality in the conduct of clinical trials and follows ethical guidelines and regulations, the future certainly seems bright for the contract research business.
