BioVoice News July 2016 Issue 3 Volume 1 | Page 14

cover story NO MORE A HOT DESTINATION: WILL INDIA CREATE A ROADMAP FOR ITS CLINICAL RESEARCH INDUSTRY? There used to be a time when India was an instant hit globally for its affordable yet quality expertize in handling clinical trials but then home grown scaremongering demonized this industry, leading to the obvious loss of fortunes. Here we analyse the ups and downs of past, present opportunities and challenges besides what lies ahead for it 14 BioVoiceNews | July 2016 W BY RAHUL KOUL ith over 16 percent of global population living in India, the country shares 20 percent of the world’s disease burden. The growing number of patients who spend out of pocket money for healthcare will require affordable medicine at par with their food and living requirements. In steep contrast to that, it is equally surprising to note that we contribute only 1.4 percent in terms of clinical trials to the drug development process worldwide. Infact, the last few years witnessed huge setback to clinical research scenario in India as the number of actual approvals declined significantly. From booming industry in