Abstract
The revised Dutch Medical Research in Human Subjects Act (WMO), which implements the European directive regarding 'good clinical practice in the conduct of clinical trials on medicinal products for human use' (2001/20/EC), became effective on March 1, 2006. The revision places additional requirements on trials of medicinal products. Whether a trial should be regarded as a trial of a medicinal product is therefore an important question. The law does not provide adequate guidance for the classification of trials in which biological samples are collected, e.g. for genomic, proteomic or pharmacokinetic studies, while a medicinal product is given for a registered indication. Classifying these types of trials as trials of medicinal products does not enhance the safety of the participants. Therefore, these studies should not be considered as trials of medicinal products to avoid the increased administrative burden required by the revised WMO.