Increasing Participation and Enhancing Patient Safety was the theme of the 13th Annual Conference of the Indian Society for Clinical Research (ISCR) which was held in Mumbai on the 24th and 25th of January, 2020. The two-day event, preceded by six pre-conference workshops, saw around 1000 clinical research professionals from across India and other countries came together to discuss the evolution of clinical research ecosystem in India post the New
Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019, introduced in March last year, and deliberated on what more needs to be done to move India’s clinical research agenda forward.

“The decade beginning 2010 was a defining one for clinical research in India,” said Dr. Chirag Trivedi,President, ISCR. “It was a period that saw the industry go through several peaks and troughs but one that ended on an optimistic note with the introduction of the New Drugs and Clinical Trial Rules, 2019. The new rules brought greater clarity and speed in the regulatory approval process for clinical trials while ensuring that patient safety was not compromised. We hope that more clinical trials will now be conducted in India to find newer treatment options for the unmet medical needs of our Indian patients.”

India has the world’s second highest population and the highest disease burden and yet, less than 1.2%
of global clinical trials are conducted in India