Legal and ethical aspects are essential in the collection and use of human tissues and clinical data. HTCR-Services is the exclusive service provider for the Human Tissue and Cell Research (HTCR) Foundation, which provides one of the highest ethical frameworks for working with human tissues and related samples. HTCR Foundation is a private non-profit initiative for the fair and timely access to these invaluable resources for both pharmaceutical industry and medical research community. Its framework regulates the informed written patient consent, data protection and anonymization as well as user application process for exclusion of non-ethical usage of human tissue (see www.htcr.org/).

New users of human tissues and derivatives need to apply to the HTCR Foundation. HTCR Foundation’s independent scientific board examines the proposed study. Upon the approval by HTCR, the new users can obtain human biospecimens and related information through HTCR-Services.