The new research governance strategy marks a radical overhaul of the arrangements for medical research in the NHS and academic institutions with far reaching implications for all those taking part in research. The days of registrars and consultants singlehandedly doing research projects are over

As part of the reforms to NHS research and development strategy announced in 2000, the Department of Health published a research governance strategy for England.1 The basic framework governing research in England had remained unchanged since the 1960s. It is based on measures introduced after the second world war to protect research subjects, such as international convention law,2 international codes of conduct for the medical profession,3 and legal regulation of the pharmaceutical industry. However, the introduction of greater commercial interests into the NHS through research networks involving both public and private interests challenge these protective arrangements. We consider whether the new Research Governance Framework for Health and Social Care1 and the new arrangements for research ethics committees will provide counterbalance to these interests.