Dive Brief:
- The Genomic Data Commons (GDC), which launched Monday, is a key part of the National Cancer Moonshot. It will share genomic and clinical data between researchers gathered from several National Cancer Institute (NCI) programs, including The Cancer Genome Atlas and Therapeutically Applicable Research to Generate Effective Treatments - its pediatric equivalent.
- GDC will also collect cancer genomic data from researchers worldwide who want to share their data and have access to GDC's expert analytics.
- Additional information from new NCI programs that sequence patients' DNA from clinical trials will be added to the GDC database, which will help with advancing precision medicine.
Dive Insight:
The launch of the GDC, "marks progress on both the Cancer Moonshot and the President's Precision Medicine Initiative, which are aimed at enabling individualized care through effective prevention, diagnosis, and therapies," stated a White House press release.
According to the NIH, the GDC will establish a cancer knowledge system that will enable researchers to integrate genetic and clinical data like cancer imaging and histological data with molecular tumor profiles and treatment responses. The raw data will allow researchers to reanalyze information as new analytical methods are developed.
Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement the launch of the GDC "is good news in the fight against cancer" and clinicians' free access to the data "is critical to speeding up development of lifesaving treatments for patients."