The Supreme Court today expressed concern over alleged illegal clinical trial of drugs in the country.

A Bench headed by Justice R M Lodha criticised the Centre and the Madhya Pradesh government for not filing their response on PILs alleging large-scale illegal drug trials in the state and other parts of the country.

The Bench granted the government and Medical Council of India eight weeks time to file their replies.

The Bench was hearing two PILs filed by a group of doctors and an NGO alleging that illegal and unethical clinical trials were being done by multinational corporations on poor persons, including juveniles, tribals and dalits.

The petitioners had also urged the court to order formation of a Committee of Experts, consisting of members of civil society, especially, the All India Drug Action Network to examine the present legal provisions concerning clinical trials, both in India and abroad.