
DNDi India Foundation celebrated International Clinical Trials Day at RMRIMS
Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative India Foundation in collaboration with Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences (RMRIMS) organized a symposium on ‘From Patient Centric to Patient Driven Trials’ on International Clinical Trials Day on May 20 in Patna.
Dr Krishna Pandey, Director, RMRIMS welcomed the participants and talked about International Clinical Trials Day (ICTD). He said that we commemorate this day when James Lind started his famous clinical trial on scurvy in 1747, May 20th, and laid the foundation for modern clinical research. ICTD offers an opportunity for research organizations, clinical research professionals, and the public to acknowledge the achievements that result from clinical research and to discuss various trial topics.
He also informed that ICMR-RMRIMS has become a part of INTENT Indian National Trial Education Network and the collaborative clinical trials based on VL, PKDL, HIV-VL in collaboration with DNDi.
Dr Monika Bahl from DNDi, speaking on Clinicals Trials in India: Evolution with Pandemic gave a glimpse of the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on conducting clinical trials and research and how it led to evolution of research planning and practices to the benefit of the science and the society.
She said that the challenges, such as social distancing and quarantines, resulted in study participants’ inaccessibility and trial personnel for in-person scheduled study visits, follow-ups lead to delay in timelines, halt of operations and compromised clinical research outcomes for researchers across globe.
Mr. Anirban Roychowdhury, a clinical research professional with over two decades of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, academia and the Govt of India, spoke on Achieving Patient Centricity through Decentralization of Clinical Trials.
He said, while patient-centricity is not a new idea, decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) are a recent reconceptualization of medical research design that embody a patient-centric mindset. DCTs are a new research paradigm that wraps clinical trial processes and formats around participants’ individual circumstances, preferences and characteristics rather than the other way around, he added.
Dr Fabiana Alves, DNDi NTD-Leishmaniasis and Mycetoma Cluster Director talked about the DNDi strategy for the development of new treatments for leishmaniasis, and the importance to incorporate patients’ perspective and community engagement from early phases of product development.
Dr VNR Das, Scientist G, proposed the vote of thanks.