Protesters outside the Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Centre. Photo: Sayeed Farooqui/Mint
New Delhi: At least 370 deaths have been reported during drug clinical trials in India since February 2013, while compensation has been paid in only 21 cases, said media Monday.
The Times of India quoted government data as saying of the 370 deaths, 222 or 60 percent cases have been examined so far by a regulatory panel on clinical trials, but only 21 were eligible for compensation as the drug under trial was found to have caused the deaths, said the report.
Pharmaceutical companies are targeting poor rural population for their drug trials, but there is a lack of government regulation to hold them responsible once the trial causes death, said experts.
