NIH Announces Genetic Testing Registry

On March 18, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced the development of a Genetic Testing Registry (GTR).   NIH established the GTR to serve as the single public resource to provide detailed information about the 1600+ genetic tests for patients and consumers.  The database, which will be populated voluntarily by genetic test providers, is expected to be available in 2011.
 
This is good news in that the database reflects impressive advances in the field of personalized medicine and an increased number personalized medicine products.

In announcing the GTR at the PhRMA annual meeting, NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins called for broad public and industry input on registry design.  The Personalized Medicine Coalition is encouraging its members and others interested in personalized medicine to share insights and ideas about the registry.  The database design can be reviewed and comments can be provided through the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) website at  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gtr/.

Opportunities to participate will be announced through the Federal Register soon.  Comments and questions can also be submitted anytime by emailing GTR@od.nih.gov.