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The credit for the founding of the discipline of clinical pharmacology goes to Dr. Louis Lasagna, who in 1954 started the division of clinical pharmacology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, one of the oldest in the world. It was his vision, mission and creative thinking which has successfully pushed this discipline to the international front, and now is recognized as an integral part of any drug development program worldwide both in industry and academia. He was a deep thinker, and his suggestions on the need for randomized controlled clinical trials, with if necessary a placebo, along with proper statistical consideration right from the beginning of the trials, inclusion and exclusion criteria etc. continue to be applicable in contemporary clinical research. His brain child has now grown into a mature discipline after almost six decades of efforts across the world. When Dr. Lasagna was busy shaping the discipline of clinical pharmacology in the USA, at the same time in India, Professor U.K. Sheth started the first department of clinical pharmacology at Seth G. S. Medical College and King Edward Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, in 1960. This work was carried forward by eminent pharmacologists like Dr. Ranjit Roy Choudhary, Dr. Ashok Vaidya, Dr. A. S. Naniwadekar, and others. Since then, the discipline has taken many turns and twists, and has slowly but steadily progressed and contributed to the development of various new drugs, drug regimens, rational drug use, and clinical trials and research in the country. Clinical pharmacologists have made major contributions to discovery, development, regulation, and utilization of medicines and in teaching rational therapeutics to current and future medical professionals, combining laboratory research, desk work and hands-on clinical consultation. There has been a transformation in the role of the clinical pharmacologist, with a demand especially in developing countries for their contribution to public health. Today, clinical pharmacologists and other professionals who have training in clinical pharmacology can influence national and international policy, practice, and education. Clinical pharmacology is also a critical component of the National Institute of Health (NIH) roadmap and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) critical path initiative to meet the growing needs of public and private sector. The world health assembly has recently focused on developing R&D agreements between nations, developing partnership alliances among academia, public sector, private firms, and philanthropic institutions to research, develop or deliver drugs, vaccines and diagnostics for neglected diseases with open innovation and cost sharing mechanisms. For these ventures to succeed in a country like India, there is need to strengthen academic institutions in smaller towns, where problems of neglected diseases and neglected communities are experienced. With the majority of people (69.35%) in India living in villages, the government of India has initiated various programs like the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Rogi Kalyan Samiti (RKS), and Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Committees. There is also increasing commitment from industry to rural areas. But all of this has not been enough to achieve the millennium development goals of reducing maternal and infant mortality. There is also a concern over development of antimicrobial resistance which is largely due to overuse, Clinical Pharmacology in Drug Development 2(3) 201–204 © The Author(s) 2013 DOI: 10.1002/cpdd.42 |
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