Bioscope ‘07

by  Dr. Barbara Price

The Price of Information Sharing

          The Journal of Medical Chemical Biological and Radiological Defense has begun a new volume. The online journal is free; not even registration is requested. Please go to www.JMedCBR.org to view the welcome letter from DTRA, the new sponsor, and the editorial advisory board. The mission of the Journal is to provide peer-reviewed information and articles about medical treatment and medical countermeasures for chemical, biological and radiological defense and to become the "go-to site" for such information. Articles, archival information, and suggestions can be sent to editor@JMedCBR.org. Please put JMedCBR in the subject to avoid the spam filter. ASA's Dr. Barbara Price is the editor. Check the site frequently for articles, book review and commentaries.

Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics

          The Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB) in Geneva, which opens in the beginning of March, is a privately funded effort to house an influenza database. Driven by the importance of sharing data prior to a pandemic, researchers and countries affected by H5N1 want to reveal information to the world immediately and not go through portals which are restricted to only a few researchers and public health officials. The restriction is that users must register and agree that not to use the institute's data to produce papers, drugs, or vaccines without its permission.

          The Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Influenza Data (GISAID) (Nature August 2006) was signed by more than 70 experts and funded by Peter Bogner, a Swiss media consultant. Scientists who provide data have 6 months to arrange for patents and scientific publications; "after that, the information will be entered into three large public databases." The new institute was built after criticism that the WHO's Influenza Sequence Database, ISD, at Los Alamos National Laboratory, limits information about key genetic data to only 15 flu labs.

          When GISAID's database opens, decades' worth of influenza data from humans, birds, and other species will be available. This new effort at sharing information comes at a crucial time. Indonesia and other developing countries have complained that although they may shoulder the burdens of initial outbreaks of avian flu, both economic and social, and also provide samples of the virus for research, it is the vaccine manufacturers in developed countries who make the money and then sell the vaccines back to the poorer countries at high market prices. There is no discount given despite the burdens of culling of animals, loss of markets, and expensive treatment and investigation of human illnesses in the countries first affected. The GISAID has agreements from these countries that even if they do not share the virus samples, they will share the information. - from Science, 16 Feb, 2007.

For the Professional in Government and Industry with an interest in Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense, Disarmament and Verification; Emergency and Disaster Medical Planning; Industrial Health and Safety; and Environmental Protection