Challenges of Ethical Reviews in China’s Biobanks

Corresponding Author: Yu Xiao, Department of Biological Repositories, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China, Tel:+86-27-6781-2689; Email: [email protected]

Received Date: 24 Aug 2017
Accepted Date: 25 Sep 2017 
Published Date: 27 Sep 2017

Copyright© 2017 Xiao Y

Citation:Xiao Y, Qian K, Zheng L, Cao X, et al. (2017). Challenges of Ethical Reviews in China's Biobanks. Mathews J Urol Nephrol 1(1): 004.

ABSTRACT

Biobanks are repositories consist of biological samples and the related information for the purpose of research. Being considered as key infrastructures for biomedical research and translational medicine, biobanks have undergone dramatically development in China. A medical ethics committee aims to ensure that medical experimentation and human research arecarried out in an ethical manner. The first Chinese medical ethics committee was established in 1991, far lagged behind the developed countries. Due to the feature of future-orientated research and the complex of genetic research, the ethical reviews on biobanks become more complicated and controversial than the ordinary clinical research. Investigations showed that ethics committees in China lacked independence, personnel engaged in medical ethics, ethical education and training as well as relevant laws and regulations. According to the ethical particularity of biobanks and China's current national condition,we focus on the challenges that the hospital ethics committees in China faced and how to overcome them.