Principles of ethics review on traditional medicine and the practice of institute review board in China

As one of the significant parts of medical science research in China, the research on Chinese medicine (CM) reflects the essence of healthcare tradition in the country both theoretically and clinically, and embodies the values of Chinese culture. Therefore, in the practice of ethics review on CM research protocols, besides abiding by the contemporary prevalent international principles and guidelines on bioethics, which emphasizes the scientific and bioethical value of the study, we should also stress the CM theoretical background and relevant clinical experience in the framework of Chinese culture and values. In this paper, we went over the traits of CM clinical research and the experience from the practice of ethics review by the institution review board for bioethics, and then attempted to summarize the key points for the bioethics review to CM researches in China, so as to serve as reference for the bioethics review to traditional and alternative medicine researches.