Medical Trials To Now Focus On Indian Body Type, Data: New ICMR Mandate

In a significant shift towards localising healthcare, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has issued a new mandate to prioritise clinical trials based on Indian body types, historical health data and lifestyles. This move comes at a time when it is well known that medical research has mostly relied on Western medical data, and most medications, therapies, even vaccines in use today are based on said standards set in countries other than India. ICMR now seeks homegrown evidence to treat the country's spiking lifestyle diseases. The factors that are leading to a surge in lifestyle diseases are obesity, heart disease, diabetes, processed food diets, and sedentary lifestyles. All of these combined are fuelling the lifestyle health crisis and affecting a growing population in India. So, tailoring the data collection methods has become a necessity, and the first step is to focus on the unique Indian body type and the health-related data collected in Indian demographics.

Why Does The New ICMR Mandate Matter?

For decades, India has largely followed treatment protocols derived from clinical trials conducted primarily in Europe and North America. However, the ICMR as well as Indian-led studies (like one in the Journal of Food Science and Technology) argue that what works for a Western demographic doesn't always translate to the Indian population.

There are differences in genetics, dietary habits, and even environmental factors that play a massive role in how diseases progress and how Indian bodies respond to medicine. For instance, Indians are often termed as 'thin-fat', which means having a normal body mass index but carrying high amounts of visceral fat, making them more susceptible to insulin resistance and diabetes at a younger age.

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India's Health Crisis

The urgency for this mandate is backed by startling data that looks at each of the factors contributing to the lifestyle disease crisis in India. From dietary choices to surging chronic health conditions, the exact figures of people impacted are jarring. Here is a detailed look at it:

• Dietary Burden: A 2024 ICMR analysis revealed that nearly 56.4% of India's total disease burden is linked to unhealthy diets and poor lifestyle choices.
• Diabetes Surge: The ICMR-India's Obesity and Overweight joint study highlights that over 101 million Indians are living with diabetes, while another 136 million are in the pre-diabetic stage.
• Early Onset: While lifestyle diseases typically strike those over 55 in developed nations, in India, they are appearing at least a decade earlier, often affecting individuals in their mid-40s.
• Mortality: Non-communicable diseases like heart disease and cancer now account for over 61% of all deaths in the country.

A Focus On Homegrown Evidence

Under the new mandate, ICMR is encouraging multicentre trials across at least five hospitals to test treatments in real-world Indian settings. And each study is eligible for government funding of up to INR 8 crore.

The goal is to identify therapies that are not only clinically effective for the Indian population but also affordable and accessible through the public health system. By creating Indian data, the medical community hopes to reduce out-of-pocket spending for families and ensure that prescriptions are guided by the unique metabolic and hormonal adaptations of the Indian population.

Also Read: Can Egg Yolk Increase Cholesterol? Cardiologist Busts Myth

Aim Of The ICMR Mandate

The aim is to strengthen evidence-based medicine in India based on data collected on Indian subjects by:

• Localising research: Testing therapies on Indian bodies and lifestyles, rather than relying solely on Western data for better-targeted approaches.
• Improving scale: Multi-centre trials reduce inherent bias and increase statistical power for better and more accurate findings.
• Encouraging innovation: Funding supports both modern biomedical interventions and integrative approaches (including Ayurveda).
• Global competitiveness: India wants to position itself as a hub for large-scale clinical research.

The ICMR mandate is a step in the right direction, as it will help create a data mine of critical clinical data on the varied Indian demographic. Hence, it will help create better medical treatments for lifestyle diseases and reduce the burden on the healthcare infrastructure. So, it is a necessary change that could transform the way lifestyle diseases are treated and even improve patient outcomes in India.

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