Metropolis to set up clinical trial facilities in Coimbatore

Chennai-based Metropolis Health Services plans to invest about Rs 10 crore to set up facilities for clinical trials in hospitals in Coimbatore. It would also set up a facility dedicated to the study and treatment of fungal infections.

Clinical trials are conducted to verify the effectiveness and evaluate the safety of a newly developed drug or treatment which is administered to a group of people. There are different stages in a clinical trial. Metropolis Health Services would set up phase II and III in Coimbatore. Phase II involves administering the drug to a group of people, usually 100 - 300, to see its effectiveness and evaluate how safe it is.

To confirm the effectiveness, monitor the side-effects and to compare with the commonly used treatments, the new drug is given to larger groups of people, usually 1,000 - 3,000, in the phase III studies.

The Chennai-based hospital decided to set up the clinical trials in Coimbatore as the tier II city has a strong research base with the presence of PSG Institute of Medical Science and Research and KG Research centre, an arm of KG Hospitals. Moreover, the inflow of patients from the neighbouring states of Kerala and Karnataka and the presence of multi-speciality hospitals in Coimbatore, make the city suitable for the company to expand its operations.

"We are holding talks with some of the hospitals in Coimbatore to form joint ventures or partnership to set up facilities for clinical trials. We expect the facilities to be operational by the end of June this year," G S K Velu, managing director, Metropolis, told Business Standard.

"With all these acquisitions, we plan to provide medical care in the Coimbatore region through hub and spokes model. Each of these medical centres will have telemedicine capabilities in a month's time. Specialists from Chennai and Coimbatore will be visiting these hospitals every fortnight," said Velu.

Metropolis also plans to set up a histopathological (treatment of fungal infection) lab in Coimbatore, the first of its kind in the region, within the next three months. The company looks to either form a joint venture or acquire an existing lab.

Coimbatore will act as the referral lab for Salem, Erode and Kerala. The lab will take up routine and semi-specialised testing, while the super-specialised testing will have the support of the company's Chennai lab.

To fund these initiatives, the company is in talks with banks and private equity investors. The company registered a profit of Rs 73 crore last financial year and hopes to clock Rs 150 crore in the current financial year powered by its domestic and international ventures, he added.

Metropolis has been expanding through joint ventures and strategic partnerships. In 2003, the company acquired an 80 per cent stake in Kerala-based Sudharma Pharmaceuticals, which runs diagnostic facilities in Thrissur and Kochi.

The company had taken over Providence Hospital at Salem in 2004 and Institute of Emergency Medicine in Erode, besides acquiring two hospitals in Palakkad and Thrissur.