In order to improve the outcome of treatment for cancer patients, the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) in Puducherry has established a multi-centre clinical trial unit in oncology.
Funded by the Biotechnology Research Assistance and Development Council (BIRAC), under its flagship National Biopharma Mission Programme, the unit would assist Indian pharma conduct clinical trials with indigenously developed medicines.
In 2020, BIRAC came out with the initiative to fund a network of oncology hospitals (Network of Oncology Clinical Trials India, NOCI) for new medicines, surgical techniques, and radiation techniques for cancer treatment. It envisages setting up collaborative cancer trial groups in different parts of the country, the hospital said in a release.
A sum of ₹9.6 crore was set aside to fund trials in six large oncology centres, including two in north India, three in south and one in the eastern part of the country. JIPMER also made a request to BIRAC about establishing such a unit, the release said.
With a focus on research, the six centres in the network will carry out individual activities to create awareness about clinical trials, public interfaces, videos, and pamphlets. The network website also hosts training videos on different types of cancer for research personnel. Details of the website can be found by logging on to https://noci-india.com/, the release said.
Low-cost medicine
“A recent trial conducted by the hospital in cancer patients with severe appetite loss showed the usefulness of a medicine costing around ₹2 per day. The research on the medicine has received global acceptance, and it has led to a change in the recommendations by the American Society of Clinical Oncology in the management of anorexia in patients receiving chemotherapy,” the release said.
Collaborative clinical trials, involving several hundred patients across different institutions, are currently the cornerstone of creating an evidence base for studying cancer treatments. Many of these trials have been conducted in western countries in the last two to three decades. Very few high-quality cancer clinical trials are available from India, the release said.
