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The Temporal Development of Clinical Research in Emerging Countries

Received: 8 December 2020     Accepted: 15 December 2020     Published: 12 January 2021
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Abstract

The globalization of clinical research business is leading to a shift of clinical trials from Western countries to so-called emerging markets. This article should present the temporal development of clinical research business on the African continent. Further information should be gathered on favorite disease categories in which clinical trials are conducted. Using the ClinicalTrials.gov registry, trend data on the development of clinical research in the 47 countries listed on the African continent country list published by the World Health Organization were collected for the period from 2000 to 2018. Additionally, health data for the two main disease categories Communicable Diseases and Non-Communicable Diseases are taken from the Atlas on African Health Statistics of the World Health Organization for each country to be utilized in comparative analyses. Twenty African countries showed a strong development in clinical research business with continuous clinical trials conducted since 2000, while 5 countries had a delayed beginning of development. A further 19 countries show only sporadic performance. A comparison of the data for the disease categories Communicable Diseases and Non-Communicable Diseases shows that in 38 countries the number of clinical trials in the field of Communicable Diseases has decreased over the course of the reporting period, while clinical trials in the category of Non-Communicable Diseases are increasingly being conducted. The expected globalization trend is not evident in all African emerging markets. Due to various factors, the countries show different levels of development in the clinical research business.

Published in American Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine (Volume 9, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajcem.20210901.11
Page(s) 1-7
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Emerging Markets, Developing Countries, Clinical Trials, Communicable Diseases, Non-communicable Diseases

References
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[5] National Institutes of Health (NIH). U.S. National Library of Medicine ClinicalTrials.gov. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ (accessed 02 August 2019).
[6] Pan African Clinical Trials Registry (PACTR). Pan African Clinical Trials Registry. https://pactr.samrc.ac.za/ (accessed 05 August 2019).
[7] African Health Observatory. World Health Organization – Regional Office for Africa (2011). Health Situation Analysis in the African Region – Atlas of Health Statistics, 2011. http://www.aho.afro.who.int/en/atlas/atlas-african-health-statistics-2011 (accessed 22 July 2019).
[8] African Health Observatory. World Health Organization – Regional Office for Africa (2016). Atlas of African Health Statistics 2016 – Health situation analysis of the African Region. http://www.aho.afro.who.int/en/atlas/atlas-african-health-statistics-2016-health-situation-analysis-of-the-african-region (accessed 22 July 2019).
[9] Limaye D, Langer JM, Rühling T, Fortwengel G. A critical appraisal of clinical trials conducted and subsequent drug approvals in India and South Africa. BMJ Open 2015; 5: e007304.
[10] Alemayehu C, Mitchell G, Nikles J. Barriers for conducting clinical trials in developing countries – a systematic review. International Journal for Equity in Health 2018; 17: 37.
[11] De Rycker M, Horn D, Aldridge B, Amewu RK, Barry CE, Buckner FS et al. Setting Our Sights on Infectious Diseases. ACS Infectious Diseases 2020; 6: 3-13.
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Vanessa Strüver, Firas Fneish, Rainer Muche, Gerhard Fortwengel. (2021). The Temporal Development of Clinical Research in Emerging Countries. American Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, 9(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajcem.20210901.11

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    ACS Style

    Vanessa Strüver; Firas Fneish; Rainer Muche; Gerhard Fortwengel. The Temporal Development of Clinical Research in Emerging Countries. Am. J. Clin. Exp. Med. 2021, 9(1), 1-7. doi: 10.11648/j.ajcem.20210901.11

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    AMA Style

    Vanessa Strüver, Firas Fneish, Rainer Muche, Gerhard Fortwengel. The Temporal Development of Clinical Research in Emerging Countries. Am J Clin Exp Med. 2021;9(1):1-7. doi: 10.11648/j.ajcem.20210901.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajcem.20210901.11,
      author = {Vanessa Strüver and Firas Fneish and Rainer Muche and Gerhard Fortwengel},
      title = {The Temporal Development of Clinical Research in Emerging Countries},
      journal = {American Journal of Clinical and Experimental Medicine},
      volume = {9},
      number = {1},
      pages = {1-7},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajcem.20210901.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajcem.20210901.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajcem.20210901.11},
      abstract = {The globalization of clinical research business is leading to a shift of clinical trials from Western countries to so-called emerging markets. This article should present the temporal development of clinical research business on the African continent. Further information should be gathered on favorite disease categories in which clinical trials are conducted. Using the ClinicalTrials.gov registry, trend data on the development of clinical research in the 47 countries listed on the African continent country list published by the World Health Organization were collected for the period from 2000 to 2018. Additionally, health data for the two main disease categories Communicable Diseases and Non-Communicable Diseases are taken from the Atlas on African Health Statistics of the World Health Organization for each country to be utilized in comparative analyses. Twenty African countries showed a strong development in clinical research business with continuous clinical trials conducted since 2000, while 5 countries had a delayed beginning of development. A further 19 countries show only sporadic performance. A comparison of the data for the disease categories Communicable Diseases and Non-Communicable Diseases shows that in 38 countries the number of clinical trials in the field of Communicable Diseases has decreased over the course of the reporting period, while clinical trials in the category of Non-Communicable Diseases are increasingly being conducted. The expected globalization trend is not evident in all African emerging markets. Due to various factors, the countries show different levels of development in the clinical research business.},
     year = {2021}
    }
    

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    AB  - The globalization of clinical research business is leading to a shift of clinical trials from Western countries to so-called emerging markets. This article should present the temporal development of clinical research business on the African continent. Further information should be gathered on favorite disease categories in which clinical trials are conducted. Using the ClinicalTrials.gov registry, trend data on the development of clinical research in the 47 countries listed on the African continent country list published by the World Health Organization were collected for the period from 2000 to 2018. Additionally, health data for the two main disease categories Communicable Diseases and Non-Communicable Diseases are taken from the Atlas on African Health Statistics of the World Health Organization for each country to be utilized in comparative analyses. Twenty African countries showed a strong development in clinical research business with continuous clinical trials conducted since 2000, while 5 countries had a delayed beginning of development. A further 19 countries show only sporadic performance. A comparison of the data for the disease categories Communicable Diseases and Non-Communicable Diseases shows that in 38 countries the number of clinical trials in the field of Communicable Diseases has decreased over the course of the reporting period, while clinical trials in the category of Non-Communicable Diseases are increasingly being conducted. The expected globalization trend is not evident in all African emerging markets. Due to various factors, the countries show different levels of development in the clinical research business.
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Author Information
  • Faculty III – Media Information and Design, Hochschule Hannover, Hannover, Germany

  • Institute for Cell Biology and Biophysics, Leibniz University Hannover, Hannover, Germany

  • Institute for Epidemiology and Medical Biometrics, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany

  • Faculty III – Media Information and Design, Hochschule Hannover, Hannover, Germany

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