Why do pharmaceutical companies increasingly shift their clinical drug trials to developing countries?
• Doing clinical trials in developing countries is cheaper. The amount of cost saving differs per country, and a range of estimates can be found in literature; • Regulatory constraints in developing countries are either less stringent or less actively policed. Research protocols can therefore be approved more easily, trials can be carried out more quickly, and drugs can be brought to market more quickly; • It is easier to find test subjects in developing countries, because participation in a trial is often the only treatment option, or because it offers the chance to make some money. Many developing countries have large populations, which makes it easier to find patients suffering from a given disease, even if this disease is comparatively rare; • Test subjects in developing countries have less frequently already been exposed to similar medicines, and this can improve the reliability of the test results. Other reasons are: • Governments of developing countries are interested in the eco
