CLINICAL TRIALS IN CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE: Multiple Cultures By Karen Politis Virk As costs for drug development in the United States (U.S.) increase, pharmaceutical and biotech companies are increasingly considering clinical studies abroad. This is in large part due to the fact that many countries can conduct clinical trials at a lower cost than…
Clinical Trial Boom in China Due to unprecedented economic growth and increased healthcare expenditures, experts predict that by 2012 China will be the world’s fourth largest pharmaceutical market. In addition to increased production and distribution by foreign pharmaceuticals, China has become one of the region’s primary locations for outsourcing clinical trials. Growth in the clinical…
Latin America Medical Trials Climate By Karen Politis Virk Several countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, and Latin America are among the most prominent new locations for outsourcing clinical trials. In the past, few clinical trials were conducted in Latin America due to a number of factors, including poverty, political instability, and lack…
Why Translate? There are many reasons why a company may decide to translate a document. Perhaps they’ve formed a new partnership abroad or they want to expand their customer base. New business challenges and opportunities constantly arise, and translation, or the process of rendering written texts in one language (the source language) in another (the target language), is one way to meet those demands, no matter which business sector you are in. Language is one of the most important “currencies” in the global market.
Communication has always been a key element throughout the ages to convey messages to others. Eventually, the interaction between different tribes, peoples, cultures, or entities, would define the need for interpreting as essential. The urge for conquering lands made men feel powerful and, as a way to impose themselves in the defeated region, the dominant people would spread their language. But it was not until the post-World War II Nuremburg Trials that interpreting became accepted as an important profession.
Most people focus on doctors, lawyers or judges when they think of ethical choices that professionals must make. What about translators and interpreters? There are several common ethical standards which are accepted across all professions. In other words, there is a set of standards that when applied helps to ensure the best results will be achieved for the client. Although ethical issues appear to have little to do with translation and interpreting, most translators and interpreters will in fact face more than one ethical dilemma throughout their career.
Interpreting has become over the past few decades an essential part of international communication. Although it is in high demand, being able to interpret at a professional level is far from easy. Among the numerous qualities an interpreter must acquire, especially for simultaneous interpreting, anticipating what the speaker is going to say next is one of the most important. Interpreters do not always interpret a phrase after the interpreted speaker says this phrase, for respecting this natural order can turn out to be impossible.
As the demand for larger patient pools grows, countries with less experience are quickly emerging as clinical trial sites. The primary countries emerging as new clinical trial locations can be divided into three different regions: Latin America, CEE, and Asia. More rapid subject enrollment, reduced costs, and genetic diversity are among the many advantages offered in these regions. But there are new challenges for sponsors including vast regulatory differences and linguistic and cultural barriers.
Given the greater demand for high-quality, low-cost biologics manufacturing, as offshoring occurs farther from the US and Western Europe, there are several prominent offshoring locations in Asia. This introduces many new variables. India and China are the most dominant due to their experience in generics production. But these countries present significant obstacles, including inadequate IP protection and compliance to GMPs, as well as vast linguistic and cultural barriers.
Along with a growing market economy, Russia’s large treatment-naïve patient population, specialized health care centers and highly skilled clinical research staff have created a favorable environment for outsourcing clinical research. Although the regulatory environment is still improving, the single translation requirement, simplifies regulatory approval to some extent. However, language and cultural barriers remain.