A professor at Keio University's School of Medicine extracted bone marrow fluid from several cancer patients without their permission, violating ethics guidelines, it has been learned.The clinical study in which the professor intended to use the samples had not been approved by the university's ethics committee at the time the samples were taken, and his actions violated the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare's ethics guidelines for clinical research.
Noriko Morishita, a clinical trial instructor at the health ministry's Research and Development Division, commented, "We received a report from Keio University last week. It's unfortunate that guidelines were not followed. We want them to rethink the current clinical research system and the ethics education of researchers to prevent this from happening again."
Officials from the university and Keio University Hospital were scheduled to hold a news conference March 19 to explain the professor's actions. Read More
