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.