India set for drug testing boom

The ground has been cleared for legalising Phase I clinical trial outsourcing the first phase of drug testing on human beings before the medicines hit the market in the country, reports Suprotip Ghosh & Aditya Ghosh.

After being tested on guinea pigs, drugs could straight be tested on Indians soon. The ground has been cleared for legalising Phase I clinical trial outsourcing the first phase of drug testing on human beings before the medicines hit the market in the country.

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In a meeting held on August 18 in Kolkata, the Drug Controller General of India Surinder Singh started the process of legalising micro-level clinical trial outsourcing. At this stage, a new medicine or molecule is tested for the first time on humans in minute doses after being tested on animals.

Currently, only medicines and vaccines that have completed Phase I trials in other countries are allowed to be tested in India. Once Phase I trials come to India, the next stages — testing whether it is better than the best drug available in the market and its side effects — will happen in India too.