Pune-based Jehangir Clinical Development Center (JCDC) was formed in 2006 to focus on clinical trials. Since then, the company has achieved several milestones, with the most recent being the accreditation from the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Program (AAHRPP).

The accreditation is the latest indication that organizations are embracing AAHRPP's goal of establishing a single set-of-standards worldwide for CROs, independent institutional review boards, research-intensive universities, medical colleges, hospitals, and other entities that are engaged in research involving human participants. JCDC is the third institution in India and seventh in Asia to attain the AAHRPPP accreditation. BioSpectrum talks to Mr Pathik Divate, CEO, JCDC, regarding the major achievement of his firm and the future plans for the company.

Congratulations on receiving the accreditation from AAHRPP. Please tell us about the importance of this milestone for JCDC?
We are very pleased to receive this accreditation. It is a stamp of approval from a very renowned and reputed accreditation body, which is gold standard for research centers all over the world. This accreditation recognizes that we have the right procedures in place for research. Currently, there is a lot of debate in the country whether human subjects participating in clinical trials are adequately protected. Since AAHRPP's main focus is the human research protection program, we are sending out a clear message that we are following right procedures for clinical trials.

We are the third institution in India and seventh in Asia to receive this accreditation. Manipal hospital in Mangalore and Bangalore are the other two that had earlier got this accreditation. This accreditation is meant mainly for research centers and hospitals. All the big research centers such as Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital among others have this accreditation. The accreditation puts us in their premier league.

Please tell us in brief the procedure involved in receiving this accreditation?
The entire procedure involved four steps. In step I we had to send all our Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to the association. We had to provide detailed answers to around 70 elements that were divided into three domains. We gave suitable answers with various documents explaining how we were taking care of various aspects in these domains.