The changing pattern of clinical trials...raises concerns over quality, research ethics and the very lives of the patients participating, and is coming under increased political and regulatory scrutiny... Since 2000,...the expansion of western pharmaceutical companies around the world and the emergence of local rivals in developing countries have meant that the number of trials taking place in the emerging economies of China, India, eastern Europe and Latin America is catching up [with the number conducted in North America and western Europe]... [Another] concern is the lack of post-trial access to medicines. The country where a trial is conducted may not gain access until long after the drug is approved in the west. [refers to Novo Nordisk (part of Novo Group), GlaxoSmithKline, Viral Genetics]