Western countries frequently outsource their drug trials to LDCs. According to a recent study (Eslami, 2020), more than forty percent of US clinical trials were conducted outside the US. The Office of Inspector General (OIG) noted in a 2010 report the increasing use of locations outside the Western world for clinical trials, and highlighted FDA statistics pertaining to the same (Levinson, 2010):
Over half of all clinical trial sites are outside the U.S.
35% of non-U.S. clinical investigators were conducting trials under independent agencies.
80% of applications for drugs and biologics contain data from ex-U.S. studies.
78% of all research participants were enrolled outside the U.S.
87% of all research participants in recent biologics trials were enrolled outside the U.S.