International ethics harmonization and the global alliance for genomics and health

Abstract

On 28 January 2013, funders and researchers met to discuss how to enable rapid progress for biomedicine by lowering global barriers to responsible and secure data sharing Since then, over 130 leading organizations in health care, research and disease advocacy, operating in 40 countries, have signed a letter of intent to work towards the creation of a Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) [2]. There are three goals: to enable open standards for interoperability of technology platforms for managing and sharing genomic and clinical data, to provide guidelines and harmonized procedures for privacy and ethics internationally, and to engage stakeholders to encourage responsible sharing of data and of methods.