By Xinhua
Geneva : India, along with China, has joined the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s clinical trial registry system in order to ensure transparency and good quality of research activities.
Both India and China have a rapidly expanding clinical trial research sector, WHO said in a statement Wednesday.
The inclusion of China and India in WHO's online database for clinical trials is a major step for policymakers and scientists, who can now track local research activities, improve the quality of research, and meet global standards for transparency.
According to the statement, the Chinese Clinical Trial Register was established in 2005 and has now met the criteria to submit its trial registry data to WHO's web search portal.
India's registry was created only recently and is designed to ensure data meeting WHO reporting rules.
"The addition of these two clinical trial registers is a milestone in a growing international movement for more transparency and accountability in research involving people," said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan.
"This development will contribute to improve the ethical conduct and public trust in clinical trials, which are vital for testing new life-saving treatments."
The WHO's online database on clinical trials was established in May to help doctors, patients, scientists and policy-makers track trials going on around the world.
A number of countries, including the US, Britain, Australia and New Zealand, have joined the registry system.