Challenges of emerging countries: a relatively positive view for the future

The political-economic world is gradually changing as the world powers give way to emerging countries, or more exactly, to the influence of the corporations. Why are the so-called BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations that have very large land masses or, rather, very large populations (over 40% of the world population)? Today it is not so much the power of the weaponry of a country that makes it a world leader but the power of the economy, the combined spending power of the inhabitants. Scientific production should mirror the size of the population as, theoretically, the larger the population, the more people capable of doing research. If 1% of any population is intelligent, there are more intelligent people in China than the entire Belgium population at a little under 11 million (1). Of course this is not completely true of emerging countries as years of undernourishment, underinvestment in education and the allied mentality means that although countries are up-and-coming they will require some years before they can take the position of world leaders. Even so, with this transformation process comes many advantages as multinationals, who want to guarantee their future markets, will invest in these markets. Universities and other research institutions should be prepared to take advantage of these opportunities by attracting financial support for research from drugs companies. For drugs companies there are also many advantages. The first is obviously the cost. As Glickman et al. stated, the cost of a first class medical center in a developing country can be less than one tenth of the cost of a second class establishment in the USA. The authors attribute much of the cost savings to lower salaries (2). Moreover, the regulations in developed countries are much tougher and so it is more difficult to carry out research. Regulations in developed countries have become more and more complex with perhaps excessive burdens on investigators as not always empirical studies are performed to determine which elements improve the conduct in research and which only increase costs. Large populations provide researchers with great opportunities in terms of the number of eligible subjects making patient enrollment faster. According to Bansal, 83% of US clinical studies fail to recruit the required number of participants within the given timeframe; enrollment in developing countries can be between five and ten times faster than in the US (3). Additionally, the number of patients with untreated …