Free Management Dissertations - India Is Literally Becoming A Research Laboratory. "pharmaceutical
India is literally becoming a research laboratory. "Pharmaceutical multinationals are increasingly seeing a big opportunity in conducting clinical research in the country, with its large and diverse patient pool and low per-patient trial cost". Glaxo Smith Kline a major drug manufacturer will shift 30 percent of its clinical research to India where trials can be conducted cheaper than in Europe and the United States (Durand, M. 2004:134). India promises to become a world centre for testing new medicines, clinical trials and other services for pharmaceutical companies, are beginning to find a location advantage in India (D'Mello, B.2002).
It is questionable whether the subjects of these trials are being given information about risks. The target audience is the poorest in the country. The consent forms, are printed in English, with the poorer citizens are unable to read. Hospitals do not have independent ethics committees, to protect the welfare of the participating human subjects (D'Mello, B. 2002).
D'Mello (2002) stated that "In most situations, ethics committees are ad hoc in nature and remain on paper only ... (they) are mere rubber stamps to approve a project because agencies providing grants require such approval ... the subjects are ordered to put their signatures/thumb impressions in between dotted lines without attempting to explain the project. . . .(There is) scant concern for the safety of the subjects. This infers that the western multinationals are abusing their power and acting unethically (D'Mello, B. 2002:48)
An example of this treatment is in 1997 women with cervical cancer were kept under medical observation to observe the rates of progression to cancer. The investigators did not obtain the written consent of the subjects, once the study was over all form of treatment ceased. These women had volunteered in the hope that they would receive better medical care, which they would otherwise have been unable to afford (D'Mello, B. 2002)
The cost of conducting clinical trials has increased in China, although it still remains only 40-60 percent of the cost testing in the west In China, only hospitals designated are authorised to conduct trials. As a result, principal investigators at such hospitals often have extensive experience with Western companies Theses alliances allow the manufacturers access to further testing of drugs within the hospital (Shen, Z.2004)
Pharmaceutical companies are looking at switching production to low-cost countries. Prices of pharmaceutical production from China and India are typically 50% less than those of Western producers.
Dissertations - Free Management Dissertations
