Canada Serves as 'Leader' in Advancing Genomic Data Sharing Efforts

The success of the genetic market depends on many factors. Atop many is the need to share data amongst researchers and companies in the industry. Case in point, a new report released on Tuesday (October 17) from a not-for-profit organization suggests that Canada may have on of the most active spaces for data sharing.
“Canada leads or plays a major role in at least three of the 13 new 2017 GA4GH [Global Alliance for Genomics and Health] Driver Projects,”Genome Canada’s report indicated. This initiative is a founding member of the GA4GH, an international alliance seeking the improvement of genomic medicine and research. These driver projects are described by the organization as “real-world data initiatives.”
Marc LePage, Genome Canada’s president and chief executive officer, credited international collaboration amongst the industry landscape as the most important key to success.

“The GA4GH is the catalyst for the right players to come together to realize this vision,” LePage said.

Reach of data sharing associations

This grouping has set a goal for itself to set up proper, responsible and effective genomic data sharing by the year 2022.  In 2017 alone, the GA4GH managed to reach 500 organizations added into its network.
Huffington Post recently reported on some of the best examples around when it comes to successful data sharing associations.
The report described the partnership between the UK Biobank and the European Genome-phenome Archive (EGA), which will allow researchers to look up the samples from 500,000 patients.
“As healthcare becomes more and more data intensive, it will be crucial that the governance of our health data is robust and transparent. It’s a state that we are not at yet,” Huffington Post wrote.

Need for data share

“Typically in a research study genetic data is generated and then it’s kept without sharing for many months or years, because researchers are working on a publication or because they need more evidence or data or they need to find other collaborators or there [are] institutional agreements that need to be worked out before the data can be shared,” program lead of rare disease genomics at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard told Rare Disease Report.
The benefit of seeking effective data sharing allows researchers from various organizations to gain more samples when looking for new treatments for rare diseases.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Bryan Mc Govern, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.