Lessons Learned in India

Hospitals in urban India have the required patient attendance, qualified physicians, and equipment to serve as high-performing clinical trial sites. However, it remains a challenge for them to contribute clinical trial data consistently at international quality standards, owing to an underresourced healthcare system, India's nascent but high-growth clinical trials sector, and inadequate investment in building clinical trial site capabilities. There is an urgent imperative to rectify this, as failure to do so will jeopardize the ongoing international clinical trial activity in India and, if clinical trial site capabilities are not built, there is a risk that the region will fail to fulfill its potential as one of the world's most attractive clinical trial geographies. ECCRO, a specialist India-focused contract research organization, has developed a partner clinical trial site program which recognizes that careful site selection, development, and management are essential to achieve ECCRO's site productivity and data quality standards.