Abstract
Biomedical research on human subjects involves exposing individuals to risks and burdens for the benefit of others, and therefore raises concerns about exploitation. While the concept of exploitation has received significant attention in recent research ethical literature, its relevance and implications in this area remain unclear and contested. This chapter explains how this concept is nonetheless important for understanding the ethical complexities of human subject research and the proper design of subject protections. The chapter provides an overview of research practices often thought to raise exploitation concerns and introduces philosophical exploitation theory, focusing on aspects relevant to research ethics. Against this background, the obligations of non-exploitation held by researchers, sponsors, and third parties such as ethics committees and regulators are outlined. The chapter ends by considering how exploitative research in the past can be retroactively remediated.