Russian Women and Men Taking Advantage of Clinical Drug Trials
Many Russian women and men are taking advantage of clinical trials being offered by some of the world’s largest drug companies. There were 37,000 patients in Russia last year who took part in trials offered by companies like Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis Pharma.
Sometimes a drug trial is the best opportunity for the patient to get the care they need. When Tatyana, a 53 year old Russian woman with breast cancer, got put on a waiting list for chemotherapy for her reoccurring cancer she turned to a clinical trial for treatment.
There are some ethical concerns over the trials, but most patients with life threatening illnesses are willing to take the risk for the chance that they will get a better standard of treatment than through the regular medical system.
Last year foreign pharmaceutical companies held 324 clinical trials last year in Russian which is an increase from the 252 trials held in 2004. According to the consulting firm AT Kearney, Russia is the third most popular country for the West to hold clinical trials in behind China and India.
The benefit to the drug companies for holding trials in Russia is also a benefit for potential patients that will be treated with the drugs being tested – using Russia for clinical trials is helping drug companies’ speed up the approval process by 3 to 6 months, therefore allowing the drug to reach market sooner.
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