Whilst innovative medicines such as precision medicines, stem cell therapies and immunotherapies are hot clinical research areas, their risk and benefit to clinical research subjects and the public are less certain, attributable to the greater challenges encountered during ethics review.

To cope with such new challenges, DIA China organized a seminar on "Ethics Issues and the Governance of Innovative Clinical Research (创新临床研究的 伦理问题与管理研讨会)" during July 7-8, 2017 in Nanjing, China. The two-day seminar attracted some 150 participants from different provinces and cities, including government officials, investigators and study site personnel from academic institutions and hospitals as well as representatives from sponsors and CROs in the Chinese Mainland. Representatives of HKU-CTC made their first ever duet presentation on “Evolution of Ethics Review in Clinical Research in Hong Kong – International Experience and Innovative Approaches”, which drew much attention and positive interest.