Pharma MNCs Eye India for off-shoring CRO allied services

‘Allied services market in India is growing at 21% compared to 7.5% globally’

Not just for clinical trials, but India is also emerging as an attractive destination for allied services related to clinical research. According to a recent FICCI- Ernst & Young study, the Indian allied service market is growing at a compounded growth rate of 21 per cent as compared to 7.5 per cent globally.

The allied services outsourced market in India was estimated to be $106 million in 2008 and is growing at a rate of 21 per cent. These services comprise bio-statistics, data management, pharma co-vigilance and together they account for around 35 per cent of total global clinical research spend. The size is estimated to be around $22 billion globally. The global clinical research industry is currently pegged at $64 billion.

There are more than 40 companies in India which offer one or more allied services. According to Apurva Shah, group managing director, Veeda Clinical Research, "While outsourcing to India started for cost arbitrage in late 1990s, most western sponsors have now realised that Indian CROs can contribute a lot more. Indian CROs have graduated from just doing simple studies to doing more complex and challenging studies. We no longer just execute protocols but contribute in several ways to add value to the sponsor’s drug development". The likes of Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Astrazeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Bayer get allied services work done here in India.

With the rise of clinical trial sites outside the US and Europe, and tightening of regulatory requirements that require thorough documentation and audit trials, India with its track record of managing IT-ITeS work has emerged as a favoured destination for outsourcing allied services work.

Columbus headquartered Veeda Oncology, a full service Oncology clinical research organisation (CRO) with facilities in North America, Europe and India, plans to conduct the bulk of the recent $8.4 million of new clinical research programs it has been awarded in the last one month in India itself.

Shah said, "India’s share of revenue has risen from 20 per cent in 2006 to 60 per cent in our present global revenue. We expect a steady growth to continue due to the attractiveness of India in terms of the value proposition. It’s the combination of quality, speed and cost. It’s the “can do” attitude and hard work that’s wining the work".

The cost of a data entry operator here is around $10-20 per hour, compared to $30-50 per hour in developed economies, says the report. Similarly, a bio-statistician and a medical writing professional charges around $30-70 per hour in India compared to $100-150 in western countries.

The world’s fifth largest clinical research organization (CRO) and Nasdaq listed Kendle that started operations at Mindspace, a special economic zone near Ahmedabad, plans to have a data center here that will serve as a back-end operation for data management, pharmacovigilence, bio-statistics, analytical work, medical writing and support of clinical research.