"Activity is being initiated at these WHO centres. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has also set up a task force with 11 centres, to monitor ADR," Dhawan said at a seminar organised by the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association (IDMA) in Mumbai on Friday. However, the three centres set up by the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) are not very active, he said.

Dhawan also said that a cost reduction of 8 per cent could be achieved if a year is reduced at the pre-clinical trials stage of drug development. Costs saved could increase to as much as 16 per cent in phase two and 18 per cent in phase three trials respectively, if a year is knocked off, he said, in his presentation on clinical pharmacology research in India.

Later, Bombay College of Pharmacy ex-principal, HP Tipnis, in his presentation on the "Future of bioequivalence studies in the Post-GATT Era" said that Indian laboratories need to seek US FDA approval in order to ensure growth.

This would necessitate a higher degree of validation, automation of instrumentation and exhaustive documentation. "Indian labs can also forge collaborations or joint ventures with multinationals like Phenoix Labs or Canadian Labs," he said.

He also said that pharmacodynamic methods will overcome pharmacokinetic ones in future, even as chiral or ICE (improved chemical entities) drugs will play a vital role over the next few years.