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Research Development & Clinical Trials then upcoming IBC-Asia 3rd Annual Partnerships in Clinical annually pays $2,500 to participate in the consortium. "We Trials Asia Conference in Shanghai to invite his counterparts at decided to keep the entry fee as low as possible," Constantine pharma companies and CROs to a two-day meeting to discuss said. In addition to pharma companies and CROs, ATC memcommon training chalbers include specialists in lenges in Asia. The result designing and packaging was the incorporation course content for the of ATC in Singapore as a classroom and online. legal entity in June 2012. Constantine invites other ATC subsequently won the pharma companies as well endorsement of the China as CROs to join ATC when Council for International he speaks about the conInvestment Promotion. sortium at life sciences At the Shanghai conconferences in the U.S., ference and subsequent Europe, and Asia. "The meetings, Constantine and more members we have, his industry colleagues the more we can do," he decided that the consorsaid. tium should address not The ATC model for clinionly employee training cal trial management staff but also their shared goal could be adapted to the of ensuring that clinical training of pharmaceutical research conducted in Asia manufacturing and other meets the highest stanworkers in Asia, he added. The Asia Training Consortium was designed to prepare Asian pharma company workers to dards of quality. The government of China manage the clinical trials in the area of the world that is widely regarded as having the great- expects that the global est potential for economic growth for the pharmaceutical industry. CLASSES TAUGHT pharmaceutical industry's IN ENGLISH AND foothold in the country MANDARIN must include more than At its first meeting, the ATC board identified clinical trial the sale and marketing of drugs. As a result, the multinational investigators and clinical trial management staff as the target companies are establishing R&D; and manufacturing facilities in audiences for training. However, the priority would be clinical China as well as conducting clinical trials there. trial associates, clinical project managers, and clinical research Latin America and Africa are the new emerging markets for managers. the global pharmaceutical and CRO industries. Versions of ATC To design the curricula for ATC's courses, the board appointmay be created for those areas, Constantine said. ed a committee whose members shared nonproprietary trainATC benefits not only its member companies but also the stuing guides, content outlines, scripts, and related materials. dents trained in the consortium's courses. Because the courses "We found that the curricula of the various member companies follow standardized curricula, Asian workers who earn ATC were very similar," said Constantine. certifications by completing the classes likely will be highly Thus far, 900 days of ATC courses have been taught in classemployable in the region, Constantine said. "If they are hired by rooms throughout Asia. The ATC's Foundations of Clinical another pharmaceutical company or CRO that is an ATC memProject Management class now occurs quarterly in Shanghai. ber, their new employer likely will not have to re-train them." The course is available online in both English and Mandarin. Asia is already proving to be a major engine of economATC plans to create online versions of the other courses, which ic growth for the life sciences industry. According to the include Principles of GCP, Presentation and Assertiveness Economist magazine's intelligence unit, pharmaceutical sales Workshops, Building Performance Teams, and Leading in Asia almost doubled in the first decade of this century, and Without Authority. by 2016, the average annual growth rate in pharmaceutical Today ATC members total 17 companies, each of which sales will be over 13 percent. 48 LifeScienceLeader.com January 2014