Overseas drug trials fuel approvals, sales
Clinical Trial News Thursday, June 28th, 2012Japantimes.co.jp: By MAKIKO KITAMURA, Bloomberg
Tadasuke Takahashi, a hair stylist in London, supplements his income by participating in medical trials that offer him about ¥80,000, “bento” meals and Japanese manga during a six-night stay in clinics.
During the tests, Takahashi, 33, takes experimental drugs so researchers can determine if his reaction is any different to that of Caucasian volunteers.
Overseas tests are part of an effort by the Japanese government and the pharmaceutical industry to speed up approvals of new drugs in a market where a complex regulatory process had delayed treatments for an aging population for years, even though they have been cleared in the U.S. and Europe. Read more
