Govt likely to relax human trial norms

Raising hopes for multinational pharmaceutical research companies, India has begun a consultation on steps to ease the existing clinical trial norms to allow Indian volunteers to be subjected to first-in-human phase I studies of potential medicines developed abroad.

The current law prohibits such first time clinical trials in India unless it is tested in the country of origin or it is developed within the country.

The move, initiated by the office of the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), comes a year after the health ministry's technical advisory body on such matters