The Clinical Research Education and Management Academy (Crema) is looking at expansion to other Indian cities.
The academy, which offers part-time and full time post-graduate programmes in clinical research completed one year of its operations and is eyeing expansions to Hyderabad, Chennai and Ahmedabad by end of this financial year.
“Crema is in expansion mode and we plan to spend Rs 15 to 20 crore for expansion. The funds for expansion is being generated by internal accruals, additional funds from share holders and bank borrowings,” said Vijay Moza, chairman Crema.
“The academy, which was set up last year, had spent similar amount for setting up campus in Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi. Currently, the institute trains 300 students and when expansion is complete the capacity will go up to 550,” he added.
For the last one year, Crema has been offering courses related to clinical research, clinical data management and pharmacovigilance. It has also designed a one year full time course on advanced post-graduate diploma in clinical research.
The institute has designed a LIFSP (Learning by Industry- Faculty- Student Partnership) model that fosters a close link between the three entities. It has also designed an industry-driven curriculum to upgrade the skill base potential employees.
Crema has partnered with Canada-based Clinical Research International (CRI) to offer online education in clinical research, research monitoring, clinical research project management, training and education services.
Recently, the academy tied up with UK-based William Harvey Research to train students on clinical research.
“We are in talks with an university in Chicago to offer technical training for pharmaceutical professionals. If all goes well, it will be in place by December,” said Moza.
Talking about Clinical research in India, Dr S M Sapatnekar, Dean and director Crema said “Clinical research is a discipline that is destined to grow in the future as new drugs are continuously developed to put an end to human sufferance caused by various diseases.”
“The global clinical research market is estimated to be worth over $52 billion and there are more than 250,000 positions vacant with attractive salaries. Currently it is a sunshine industry in India but has the opportunity of creation of 50,000 jobs by 2010. India needs to invest heavily in education infrastructure and stake claim a share of around Rs 70,000 crore spent globally on clinical trials annually,” he added.
The global pharma majors are now looking at India as it has an easy access to a large, diverse and therapy-naive population with vast genetic diversity ready to undergo clinical trials.
Also India is home to a vast reserve of knowledge and resource base and is strategically located in the arena of global clinical research and trials.
