In the past 10 years, "skyrocketing costs of R&D have led to a growth explosion in the clinical services industry as pharma companies scramble to cut costs." So said Outsourcing-Pharma.com in its February 28 report, "Clinical trials in India just got cheaper."
The article reported, "India's budget finance minister has today announced a tax exemption on all services carried out by its contract research and clinical trials industry— a saving of 12.24 percent." The story quoted finance minister Palaniappan Chidambaram as saying, "This exemption from the government of India will attract more clinical trial outsourcing as the pharmaceutical sponsors will heavily benefit on their cash outflows on account of their expenses on CRO fees and other variable pass-through expenses."
Outsourcing-Pharma.com pointed out that "the average cost of running a U.S.-based clinical trial per patient is $5,404 for Phase I, $6,538 for Phase II, and $7,635 for Phase III." Clinical trials in lower-cost destinations such as India can be 60% less, according to analysis last year by Rabo India Finance.
