Mumbai, Dec 26 (IANS): Indian Society for Clinical Research (ISCR) will hold it's ninth annual conference in January to focus on a regulatory, ethical and operational framework for conducting clinical trials in India.

The two-day conference will open on January 8.

"With an increasing disease burden and unmet medical needs, clinical research bears a significant relevance, being an integral part of the drug development process and hence the theme of the conference is "Patients first and Research for India," said a statement from ISCR here.

The event will feature panel discussions and workshops focusing on several issues related to the subject including investigator-initiated research, accreditation, ethics, training and regulatory pharmacovigilance.

Clinical trials are experiments done in clinical research. Such prospective bio-medical or behavioural research studies on human participants are designed to answer specific questions about bio-medical or behavioural interventions.