Economic growth of BRIC nations and access to early-phase oncology clinical trials: An overview.

Abstract

e17554 Background: With increasing globalization we have witnessed exponential economic growth in the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations. Concurrently, clinical trials have been outsourced to these countries. We sought to investigate the current status of early phase oncology clinical trials in the BRIC countries, exemplifying the impact of these emerging economies and global markets in health care. Methods: We reviewed the clinicaltrials.gov database for registered early phase trials (Phase I/II) in the BRIC countries; 2. We looked at research from these countries collectively. 3. We reviewed specific challenges and prognosticated the road ahead through a literature review. Results: We identified374 active early phase clinical trials in BRIC countries as of October 2012. China had 68% (255/374) of the trials, Brazil 14% (51/374), Russia 12% (47/374) and India 6% (21/374). Twenty-three trials were registered in more than one BRIC; therefore we analyzed 348 different trials. Gastrointestinal (20%, 70/348), lung (19%, 67/348) and breast (17%, 57/348) cancers were the most studied. Most of the trials were sponsored by universities or hospitals (51%, 176/348) and most conducted in a single country (73%, 247/348) with 70% of therapy intended to be palliative (243/348). Combined agents were most commonly studied (57%, 199/348). Among the 217 targeted-agent trials, 23% targeted the EGFR pathway, 18% the VEGFR, 11% involved multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitors and 10% the PI3K-mTOR pathway. Funding mechanisms and sponsorship of studies were disparate. Industry-sponsored studies comprised 24% (62/255) in China, 96% (45/47) in Russia, 80% (41/51) in Brazil and 57% (12/21) in India. Conclusions: Despite theeconomic explosion and shift of non-oncology clinical trials to BRIC nations, USA and Europe still lead in conducting early phase clinical trials in oncology. China accounts for 19% of world’s population and has the majority (68%) of trials while India (17% of World’s population) has only 6%. A dominance of industry-sponsored studies in BRIC countries other than China was found. Significant challenges in infrastructure and trained personnel remain, but efforts to overcome them are underway.