Clinical
trials hold enormous potential for benefiting patients, improving therapeutic
regimens and ensuring advancement in medical practice that is evidence based.
Unfortunately, the data and reports of various trials are often difficult to
find and in some cases do not even exist as many trials abandoned or are not
published due to "negative" or equivocal results. However, this
tendency for availability of only selective information from the myriad
clinical trials conducted is not commensurate with the practice of
"evidence-based medicine". Today, world over, a need has been felt on
the imperative for transparency, accountability and accessibility in order to
re-establish public trust in clinical trial data. And this would be feasible
only if all clinical trials conducted are registered in a centralized clinical
trials registry. Registration
of trials will ensure transparency, accountability and accessibility of
clinical trials.
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The mission of the Clinical Trials Registry-India (CTRI) is to ensure that all clinical trials conducted
in India are prospectively registered, i.e. before the enrolment of the first participant.
Additionally, post-marketing surveillance studies, BA/BE studies as well as clinical studies as part of PG thesis are also expected to be registered in the CTRI.
The vision of the CTRI is to ensure that every clinical trial conducted in the region is
prospectively registered with full disclosure of the trial data set items. While this register is meant primarily for trials conducted in India, the CTRI will also accept
registration of trials conducted in other countries in the region, which do not have a Primary Registry of its own, provided ethics approval (in English) is available
and the study has not begun enrolling.
The Clinical Trials
Registry- India (CTRI), hosted at the ICMR's National Institute of Medical
Statistics (https://icmr-nims.nic.in), is a free and online public record system for registration
of clinical trials being conducted in India that was launched on 20th
July 2007 (www.ctri.nic.in). Initiated as a voluntary measure, since 15th June
2009, trial
registration in the CTRI has been made mandatory by the Drugs Controller
General (India) (DCGI) (www.cdsco.gov.in).
Moreover, Editors of Biomedical
Journals of 11 major journals of India declared that only registered trials
would be considered for publication1, 2.
Today, any
researcher who plans to conduct a trial involving human participants, of any
intervention such as drugs, surgical procedures, preventive measures, lifestyle
modifications, devices, educational or behavioral treatment, rehabilitation
strategies as well as trials being conducted in the purview of the Department
of AYUSH (https://indianmedicine.nic.in/)
is expected to register the trial in the CTRI before enrollment of the first
participant. Trial registration involves public declaration and identification
of trial investigators, sponsors, interventions, patient population etc before the enrollment of the first patient. Submission of
Ethics approval and DCGI approval (if applicable) is essential for trial
registration in the CTRI. Multi-country trials, where India is a participating
country, which have been registered in an international registry, are also
expected to be registered in the CTRI. In the CTRI, details of Indian
investigators, trial sites, Indian target sample size and date of enrollment
are captured. After a trial is registered,
trialists are expected to regularly update the trial status or other aspects as
the case may be. After a trial is registered, all updates and changes will be
recorded and available for public display.
Being a
Primary Register of the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP)
(http://www.who.int/ictrp/search/en/), registered trials are freely
searchable both from the WHO's search portal, the ICTRP as well as from the
CTRI (www.ctri.nic.in).
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Developed & Hosted by NIC/NICSI, Content provided by National Institute of
Medical Statistics (NIMS)