The objectives of our study were to explore the barriers, preferences and attitudes of the pharmaceutical industry towards conducting clinical trials in Finland. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 representatives of the pharmaceutical industry with different amounts of experience of clinical trials. The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim and analysed qualitatively. Overall, the respondents had a positive attitude towards conducting clinical trials in Finland. The major barriers seemed to occur at the beginning of the trial and mostly consisted of bureaucratic obstacles. The informants hoped for a more positive attitude of the public sector, more flexibility in hospitals and professionalism in practical implementation, e.g. having special research centres or site management services. The most dismotivating factors were the high costs and the constraints imposed by bureaucracy. The variety in practices of local ethics committees was considered problematic, and the need for common standard operating procedures was pointed out. The smallest barriers were encountered in subject recruitment by the investigators and their clinical work, documentation, investigational product logistics and communication with the regulatory authorities. The quality, know-how and reliability of the study personnel, the tightening of time lines in general, an investigator register/pool and collaboration with media in disseminating information about clinical trials to the general public were reported as the most appealing factors. Training in GCP, mainly incorporated in the medical education programme, and a certificate or equivalent were generally considered necessary, though a voluntary system was preferred. The barriers and preferences pointed out suggest various improvements and ways to produce high-quality, GCP-compliant clinical drug research and to ensure the availability of sufficient conditions to carry out clinical trials also in the future.