04/12/08

Better regulation needed for medical research in China

Individuals in clinical trials need to be protected Copyright: Morguefile

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines:

You have to credit our authors.
You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article.
You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
If you want to also take images published in this story you will need to confirm with the original source if you're licensed to use them.
The easiest way to get the article on your site is to embed the code below.

For more information view our media page and republishing guidelines.

The full article is available here as HTML.

Press Ctrl-C to copy

<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>Better regulation needed for medical research in China</h1>
<h4></h4>
</div>
<br />
<br />

<div id="article-body">
<p><span>Medical research in China must be more carefully regulated to protect the rights of participants in clinical trials, say Wang Ruotao and Gail E. Henderson.</span></p>
<p><span>Most ethical codes for medical research have been built on the principles of autonomy, beneficence and justice. But China’s traditional virtue-based ethics focus on shared responsibility, which some argue weakens the protection of individual participants.</span></p>
<p><span>Clarifying how these principles and virtues can be used together to enhance the protection of medical research participants is essential, say the authors. </span></p>
<p><span>Civil society in China can call for better protection but economic incentives in medical practice and research exacerbate the potential for conflicts of interest.</span></p>
<p><span>The authors recommend that ethics committees be independent and supported to develop community engagement. </span></p>
<p><span><a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2808%2961353-7/fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span>Link to full article in <em>The Lancet</em>*</span></a></span></p>
<p>*Free registration is required to view this article</p>

</div>
<div class="quick-links-wrapper">
<h3>You might also like</h3>
[related-articles]
</div>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/opinions/better-regulation-needed-for-medical-research-in-c/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function(e,t,n,r,i,s,o){e["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=i;e[i]=e[i]||function(){(e[i].q=e[i].q||[]).push(arguments)},e[i].l=1*new Date;s=t.createElement(n),o=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];s.async=1;s.src=r;o.parentNode.insertBefore(s,o)})(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/ga.js","ga");var _gaq=_gaq||[];var _gaq=_gaq||[];_gaq.push(["_setAccount","UA-3223906-8"],["_trackEvent","article interaction","republished","https://www.scidev.net/global/opinions/better-regulation-needed-for-medical-research-in-c/",null,true])
</script>
</div>

Medical research in China must be more carefully regulated to protect the rights of participants in clinical trials, say Wang Ruotao and Gail E. Henderson.

Most ethical codes for medical research have been built on the principles of autonomy, beneficence and justice. But China’s traditional virtue-based ethics focus on shared responsibility, which some argue weakens the protection of individual participants.

Clarifying how these principles and virtues can be used together to enhance the protection of medical research participants is essential, say the authors.

Civil society in China can call for better protection but economic incentives in medical practice and research exacerbate the potential for conflicts of interest.

The authors recommend that ethics committees be independent and supported to develop community engagement.

Link to full article in The Lancet*

*Free registration is required to view this article