The Indian government has finalised a set of ethical guidelines for biomedical research in humans, but policymakers say that they will need to be backed by legislation “for real impact.”

The guidelines, released by the Indian Council of Medical Research this week, cover wide ranging issues including informed consent, procedures for new drug trials, fetal research, transplantation, and human genetics.

All institutions engaged in biomedical research have been asked to set up institutional ethics committees to …