The venture has technological support from the global research company, India-based Synchron.

The joint venture will also join government agencies to help push forward the potential of Thailand's research facilities and expand across the Asian region.

Managing director Sasitorn Kittivoravitkul said recently that the company was the first private sector contract research organisation to concentrate on providing services in the areas of clinical research, bioequivalence, pharmacokinetics, bioavailability, blood and urine analysis, statistical analysis and data management.

It has a state-of-the-art clinical research facility, with laboratories and well-trained medical professionals to care for the volunteers.

The Thai investors joined Synchron of India to set up the company with registered capital of Bt50 million.

The local drugs industry, comprising the output of local and multinational firms, generates Bt56 billion in annual sales.

Each year local companies introduce an average of 1,000 generic drugs, with 800 drugs also being launched by the multinational industry.

Local and international drug companies register an average of 1,000 products with the Food and Drug Administration each year.

Scientists, doctors and pharmacists are already routinely carrying out phase 1,2,3 and 4 clinical trials to test new medications on Thai volunteers at various public hospitals.

As a private sector company with an advanced data system and efficient methods for analysing research results, BioInnova & Synchron can help speed up and improve the efficiency of Thailand's medical research, in both clinical research and bioequivalence services.

Each year the government has to spend an enormous budget on buying medicines especially patented drugs, which are very expensive. Producing generic drugs, which are not covered by patents, can greatly help reduce public health costs.

To make sure that generic drugs can be produced at reasonable prices, but with the same quality as the original drugs, the Food and Drug Administration in 2000 introduced a rule requiring manufacturers of generic drugs to submit the results of their bioequivalence studies when submitting a request to register their products. This helps to raise quality standards and provide quality insurance for consumers.

Sasitorn said the company would provide research services for companies in other fields such as the biotechnology, food and medical device industries.

The global clinical research market is worth some US$10 billion (Bt348 billion) and many countries such as China, Taiwan, India, Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia are all vying to become a centre of excellence in the clinical research organisation industry.

Dr Shivprakash Rathnam, managing director of Synchron, said the company would cooperate with other agencies here to see that the clinical research industry advances so that Thailand can be a leader in this field.