News »Browse Articles » MNCs pep up hiring for clinical trials

25 Dec 2008 Mumbai: Switzerland`s Novartis AG is set to slash 2.5% of its global workforce, aiming for annual savings of $1.6 billion in 2010. But, its arm here, Novartis India, is hiring and has just picked out three students from a clinical research academy in Mumbai. French drug maker Sanofi Aventis too is trimming and realigning its sales force, but its Indian operations has just recruited some students for data management (electronic data keeping in a prescribed format) and clinical research work, that determines the safety and effectiveness of medications.

Long considered a hub for clinical trials by pharma multinationals because of the high quality, cost-effective, English-speaking workforce, India is now reaping the benefits. The recession, which has hit the West really hard, has forced many MNCs to look to India to carry out their clinical trials. This is being borne out by student placements taking place here.

Many institutes, which had sprung up with this market segment in mind, are now finding placement a cinch. For example, Mumbai-based Clinical Research Education and Management Academy (CREMA) has managed to place 70% of its students with the pharma industry, even before its first convocation ceremony, and for some students even before their exams,. Salary packages range between Rs 3 lakh to Rs 4 lakh per annum, the same as last year. Along with multinationals, domestic pharma and IT majors too are hiring.

Statistics are also in India`s favour. Recently, India surpassed China to become Asia`s most popular destination for conducting clinical trials. According to the Planning Commission, 139 new trials were outsourced to India in the recent past, against 98 to China.

Another recent study by McKinsey & Co corroborates the point. Global pharma majors are set to spend around $1-1.5 billion (Rs 4,800 crore - Rs 7,200 crore) for drug trials in the country in the next 3-4 years, from the current $300 million (Rs 1,440 crore).

CREMA students have been placed with TCS, Quintiles (eight students), iGates, ClinInvest, Cognizant (11 students), Accenture, Piramal Life Sciences, Wockhardt, Sun Pharma, and CROs like PMI, Akela Pharma and Chiltern among others.

Source:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Jobs/MNCs_pep_up_hirin

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