The Hindu Business Line : Manipal group’s Ecron Acunova ties up with Tokyo CRO for clinical trials

Clinical research organisation Ecron Acunova of Bangalore, which has tied up with a Japanese peer, says it expects this to trigger a trend and set off 40-50 clinical trials between these regions in the next two to three years. Japan is the second biggest pharma market after the US.

Many Japanese and Indian companies are keen on tapping each other’s country, said Mr D. A. Prasanna, Founder and Vice-Chairman of the Manipal group-promoted Ecron Acunova.

The new alliance between Acunova and Tokyo CRO, perhaps the first between contract research organisations (CROs) of the two countries, he said, would enable clinical trials, especially in the tough regulated environment of Japan. “In the next six months, we should definitely start trials both ways. The first year should see up to five trials,” he told Business Line.

Drug, biotechnology and medical devices companies have to conduct trials mandated by the respective country regulators before getting clearances to sell their products in those countries. The companies outsource the trials to CROs such as Acunova or Tokyo, both in the top-four league in their countries.

Until now, Mr Prasanna said, Indian companies had shied away from tough Japanese procedures and missed out on good opportunities; now they could not ignore it any longer. In his view, there could be 20 Indian generic drug trials in Japan and some 30 in the country by Japanese innovator companies. The tie-up between the two CROs itself could be a trendsetter for other clinical trials bodies. “Acunova would have a head start of a year and we would like to get about 50 per cent of Indian trials (conducted in Japan through Tokyo CRO),” he said.

Acunova independently had some Japanese pharma customers. The tie-up would add 15-20 per cent to its business in the next couple of years. Tokyo CRO was also expanding in China.

Mr Prasanna said just as pharma and devices companies in the US and Europe wanted to breach the Japanese market, Japan’s drug makers, too, were looking Westwards.

Dr Toshimi Nishiyama, President, Chairman and CEO of Tokyo CRO, was cited as saying Acunova would be the vehicle to Europe for Tokyo’s customers. Acunova operates in 14 European countries after it bought Ecron, based in Frankfurt, in 2007.

A report by Biopharm Knowledge Publishing puts the current global clinical trials market at $20 billion and growing at 12 per cent a year. The domestic market for drug trials and related activities, estimated at Rs 700 crore, is growing at 25 per cent a year. Mr Prasanna said India and China still offered a price advantage of 30-40 per cent over trials conducted in developed markets.

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