This week, 3 different initiatives have emerged in the pharmaceutical industry to share their information.
- The most ambitious one has been the Data Sphere Project, which was announced a few days ago, where clinical diagnostic data will be shared for cancer research. Right now the number of datasets is small, but there is already a list of companies willing to contribute information, among others, Bayer or Pfizer. The main objective of this project is to accelerate the discovery and development of effective treatments for the disease. A professional researcher profile is required for access, but access to the data is free of charge. The technology used to build the system is SAS, which will host the service and provide analysis.
- The second initiative was voted in the European Parliament last week and is expected to be implemented in 2016. The model is about achieving transparency in clinical trials. In which trial data and results will have to be made available before a medicine can be announced in the EU.
- The third is a commercial agreement between Genentech and PatientsLikeMe, which will also focus on cancer research. But the data will not be from clinical trials, but from patients. The data will be based on different aspects of the patient’s disease course.
We are facing a new stage in research in the field of medicine. Thanks to Big Data, we will be able to lay the foundations for analysing all the information available, and move on to more advanced systems.
