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| Edited By: Priyanka Golikeri |Source: |Updated: Sep 15, 2017, 02:21 AM IST
Despite the big opportunity the business provides, the number of capable CR professionals is miniscule
MUMBAI: It’s a Herculean task finding skilled people to steer businesses. The problem is more acute in areas like clinical research, where domain knowledge is of utmost importance.
Arun Bhatt, president of Clininvent Research, a Mumbai based clinical research organisation (CRO), realised the magnitude of the problem last year when he went searching for clinical research (CR) professionals for his company.
Bhatt and his team had to visit at least 4-5 institutes that provide courses in clinical research in the country. They had to simultaneously scan through the competency graphs of more than 120 candidates to zero in on 10 people who had the right fit.
According to a study by consulting firm McKinsey &Co, by 2010, India would need 50,000 CR professionals. As against this, there are a little more than 10,000 professionals available. About a 1,000 such candidates are likely to be added annually.
“This marks a humungous gap between demand and supply. To add to our woes, out of every 10 people we interview, only one happens to meet our criteria,” says Bhatt.
CR professionals form the bedrock of the Rs 35,000-crore domestic pharmaceutical industry. After a pharmaceutical company develops a molecule, trials are carried to test its safety and efficacy. The companies normally outsource clinical trials (that are carried on healthy humans and patients) to CROs.
“As this (CROs) involves testing the safety, efficacy and checking the side effects of the molecule (which, post completion of the trials is called a drug), we require highly skilled people with a thorough domain expertise,” says Deven Parmar, vice-president, clinical research, at Wockhardt.
Clinical trials are a big business opportunity. India is fast becoming a global hub for the clinical research industry, with pharma companies planning to spend about $1.5 billion for clinical trials by 2010, as per the McKinsey study.
In fiscal 07-08, the clinical research business in India was around $500 million and it is estimated to reach $2 billion by 2010, says Vijay Moza, chairman of the Clinical Research Education & Management Academy (CREMA).
Several multinational companies have started outsourcing clinical research to India.
“India is moving towards becoming a hub for clinical trials as we have a huge population and patient pool. We have about 41 million diabetics, 10 million cancer patients who provide scope for conducting trials,” he adds.
Wockhardt Ltd is carrying out about 7-10 trials this year, while Bhatt’s Clininvent Research is conducting 20 trials in areas like cardiology, diabetes, neurology, etc. Clinical diagnostic firm Dr Lal PathLabs is conducting about 20 trials this year.
“When we started in 2003, we had only about 10 CR professionals. Now we boast of a team of over 80. We have witnessed a 50% year on year growth in the number of trials and have thus increased our workforce strength,” says Bhatt.
He further says that, at present, multi national pharma companies have outsourced about 330 trials to India.
“This means tremendous opportunity. But where are the people?” questions Parmar.
India has only 8-10 institutes that provide courses in clinical research. Though put together, these institutes manage to produce more than 3000 students annually, only about 1000 match the requirements of the CROs, says Parmar.
“Students have more theoretical knowledge and less of on-site training and practical knowledge,” says O P Manchanda, chief executive officer of Dr Lal PathLabs.
Furthermore, attrition is towering to 40% levels.
To add to the woes, several clinical research students migrate abroad on completion of their course, as, though the scope for trials is more in India, salaries abroad are steeper.
“Starting salaries for CR professionals, who are generally taken in as clinical research associates, is around Rs 18, 000-20,000 a month. By going abroad, the same students can pocket a sum which is four to five times higher,” says Manjiri Joshi, assistant director of the Pune-based Bilcare Research Academy.
Though exact numbers can’t be provided, academicians believe that each year at least 100 students seek greener pastures abroad. “This further squeezes our requirement at home,” says Joshi.
So what’s the solution to the problem?
More institutes to increase number of students and designing pedagogy to include more on-site training, say industry experts.
Bilcare, which currently has 125 students in two campuses in the country, is planning to add 20 more centres by 2010 in India and southeast Asia. Each of these centres will involve an investment of about Rs 2-3 crore. “Each new centre would have 100 students,” says Joshi.
CREMA, which has a centre each in Mumbai and Bangalore, is looking at hiking its student numbers from 300 to 1300 in 2009. Moza says that they are looking at expanding to Hyderabad, Pune, New Delhi, and Kolkata soon.
