Covance and SIRO collaborate in India-based CRO offering full services globally
Covance Inc. of Princeton, New Jersey has closed a deal with SIRO Clinpharm Pvt. Ltd., contract research organization (CRO) based in Mumbai (Bombay) for the CRO to offer pharma development services in India in support of the domestic and international biopharmaceutical industry.
SIRO is among of the bigger CROs in India providing full clinical development services. The agreement with Covance bolsters the global reach of Covance while enhancing SIRO’s operational capabilities.
Dr. Gautam V. Daftary, Director, SIRO Clinpharm Pvt. Ltd. expressed his "hope to bring our extensive knowledge of India’s medical research community, biopharmaceutical industry, and regulatory environment to the global biopharmaceutical industry and assist in establishing India as an important location for multinational pharmaceutical companies to include in their multi-centre, global trials."
India is predicted to become the next largest pharmaceutical market in the Asia-Pacific region after China within the next 2-3 years, opening up opportunities in clinical research and development with access to the second-largest population in the world.
Dr. James Bannon, President of Clinical Development, Periapproval, and Central Diagnostics at Covance affirmed his company’s committment to "expanding into emerging markets such as India in support of the biopharmaceutical industry’s development goals."
With about 70% of the life science pipeline in healthcare directed towards combatting diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancers, India is well-placed to benefit from developments in these areas of unmet medical need.
Indian government initiatives to align IP with WTO guidelines (TRIPS) by 2005 will also help towards increasing discovery and development activities among local and transnational biopharmaceutical companies.
Keywords : Covance US SIRO India Collaboration CRO Biopharmaceutical Clinical medical research development Diabetes Heart disease Cancer WTO guidelines TRIPS
