This article details the rapid rise of clinical trials within the Indian market. It parallels the outsourcing debate that has thus far been centered on programmers.
Leaving aside the pros and cons of outsourcing, I’m curious if there will be unexpected problems arising from testing the drug’s efficacy on an Indian population and then marketing the drug to a First World population, consisting primarily of Caucasians?
Here are some related articles. Should Clinical Trials be allowed? Flocking to India. Fodder for Trials.
Addendum: Let me throw a rhetorical stink-bomb for the sake of discussion. We’ve all heard the argument that Pharma is worried that if something isn’t done to curtail drug re-importation into the US, incentive to research new drugs will diminish. Why not just outsource the whole drug development process to a lower cost region and still yield handsome profits? This will eliminate the need to have drug price-controls in many countries and the US consumer price for drugs will drop. Think of the downstream effects. This will also free up all of the expensive US microbiology research personal so that they can find more productive careers in other industries.
OK. discuss amongst yourselves 🙂
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