Innovative therapies: some ethical considerations

The purpose of this text is to try to understand why certain innovations are not permitted, although they are possible. Our guiding thread will be the four principles of biomedical ethics defined by Beauchamp and Childress: beneficence, non-maleficence, justice and autonomy. We shall show how they can guide the ethical inquiry in the field of pancreas or islet transplantation, leading to an analysis of the risks and benefits of the innovations epistemologically taking into account their historical context.