The Impact of Source of Funding on the Outcome of Clinical Trials in India

Abstract

In recent times, there has been a surge of clinical trials in India. These trials are funded by different agents such as pharmaceutical industries, hospitals, research institutions, etc. Categorising the sponsors as pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical, this article tries to address the question whether the source of funding of the trials affects its outcome favourably. The study is carried out with 255 trials registered in Clinical Trials Registry-India from the year 2007 to 2009. Multivariate logistic regression analysis suggests that the trials conducted by pharmaceutical industries have significantly (at 10% level of significance) higher probability of success as compared to those sponsored by non-pharmaceutical industries. The possible reasons for this association are that trials conducted by pharmaceutical industries are in higher phase of study, use placebo as a control, are conducted in multiple centres and consist of large sample size. JEL: I11, C51