India as a hub for ethical and evidence-based medical communications

Abstract

Ethical and evidence-based medical communications are gaining increasing importance in emerging pharmaceutical markets, outside of North America and Western Europe. In large pharmaceutical companies resources are limited, and small and mid-sized companies may lack the infrastructure and technical knowhow to provide these services for emerging markets. Required skills and competencies include scientific knowledge, communication skills, analytical skills, and awareness of global as well as regional legal and ethical requirements for pharmaceutical product information. India is already a preferred destination for outsourcing medical writing for regulatory documents and has the potential to become a ‘hub’ for medical communications services. Skilled medical writers in India can help global pharmaceutical companies to reach out to healthcare professionals and patients in the emerging markets with evidence-based information related to their products.

Keywords:

• Medical communications
• Emerging markets
• India
• Medical information
• Medical writers
• Evidence-based

Acknowledgements

I acknowledge Chitra Lele (PhD) and Dr Suhasini Sharma from Sciformix for their suggestions and comments during the preparation of this article.

Conflicts of interest and disclaimers

The author declares no conflicts of interest. The views expressed by the author in this article are personal and do not necessarily represent the views of the organisation with whom the author is associated.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chandrima Pal

Chandrima Pal is a Quality Coordinator for scientific writing and regulatory affairs at Sciformix, where she was previously a medical writer. She is an EMWA certified medical writer. She has a PhD in Biophysics from the University des Saarlandes, Germany, and did post-doctoral research at the School of Biology, University of St Andrews, UK.