[Ethical and legal implications of biomedical research]

The major advances in biomedical research pose ethical and legal problems for the researchers, institutions and companies responsible for these advances. This new vision of their professional task results from the necessary protection of patients' rights and responsibilities, reflected in international documents and specific legislation in distinct countries, which are globally being adopted by transnational research, linked -in turn- to translational research. The pluridisciplinary nature of current biomedical research is reflected in the field of the rights and responsibilities to be protected. Thus, Ethics, Bioethics and the Law started an ineludible and intense dialogue that has even given rise to new areas of knowledge such as Healthcare Law and Biolaw. Personalized medicine constitutes a new healthcare criterion while pharmacogenetics may be a good study model, able to promote deliberation and prudence in decisions. Finally, Health Economics is essential, not only to benefit from its technical experience but also to rediscover the ethics that gave rise to this discipline.