Tokushima University Hospital has established the Tokushima Network for Clinical Trials (TNCT) to promote clinical trials in the area in collaboration with the Tokushima Medical Association. The present study investigated the views of doctors towards registration trials in the TNCT. A questionnaire was provided to 49 clinics/hospitals registered to the TNCT in 2006 and 38 (78%) responded. It revealed that 48% of doctors were aware of registration trials and 87% were favourable towards participating as investigators in them. They considered close contact with developmental drugs, advancement of therapy and the opportunity to learn about state-of-the-art treatment as benefits of participation. The main areas of difficulty included management of adverse reactions and patients' refusal to take part. Many doctors wanted more opportunity to learn about trial-related issues such as regulations. The survey indicates that the TNCT needs to develop the infrastructure and enlighten participants to promote registration trials in this rural regional area.

: Clinical research is important to improve medical quality, and ethics review is essential to conduct clinical research. Since the establishment of the first Japanese ethics committee at the University of Tokushima in 1982, Japanese ethics committees have increased. In this study, we surveyed the status of clinical studies and ethics committees in one Japanese region. The survey was conducted in collaboration with the Tokushima Medical Association. A questionnaire was established and mailed to all medical institutions (n=737) registered to the Tokushima Medical Association in 2012. Among 737, 223 (30.3% %) questionnaires were returned and 221 were completed and are included in this analysis (respondents). Among respondents, 51 (23.1% %) had performed clinical research, and of these, 17 had established ethics committees (though one was omitted from the following analysis due to an unsatisfactory response). Among 16 ethics committees, review of protocol amendments, review of serious adverse events, annual follow-up of approved protocols, and education for committee members were active in 10 (62.5% %), 9 (56.3% %), 6 (37.5% %) and 4 (25.0% %), respectively. Research ethics education was active in 4 (25.0% %). Based on the results, we attempt to establish an appropriate system for ethical conduct of health-related research in Tokushima Prefecture.