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Global alliance forms to share genetic, clinical data
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted June 17, 2013
More than 40 U.S.-based hospitals, research and advocacy groups, including the National Institutes of Health, have joined an international alliance aimed at creating massive databases of genetic and clinical data that will be accessible to researchers and doctors worldwide.
The alliance was formed after a group of 50 researchers from eight countries met in January to discuss the challenges with sharing genetic and clinical research data, including a lack of standards for sharing the data. So far, 70 groups from more than 40 countries have agreed to participate. Other U.S. participants include Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Harvard University, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Stanford University. The groups will give patients a choice of whether to share their data with the alliance.