Corruption and research

Last year there was a heated debate regarding clinical trials with AZT carr ied out in developing countries, AIDs vaccine trials also posed various dil emmas and ethical problems. In this paper I will consider the possibility o f corruption in bioethics, and international multi-centre research will be taken as an example. International clinical trials will be seen from anothe r perspective. I will try to show that the possibility of systemic corrupti on should be considered when designing an inter-national multi-centre resea rch trial which may involve countries In very different situations regardin g corruption. I will analyze three different approaches to this problem and suggest some strategies regarding their capacity to exclude the possibilit y of corruption.