How will the two agencies collaborate to address bioinformatics?
NCI and FDA will work together to create a common collection of data standards that can be used to transmit cancer-related clinical research data from investigator to regulator. These efforts will extend and integrate existing standards. The agencies plan to work closely to identify best practices, including those in the private sector and in academia, and the approach has been structured so that organizations can build intellectual property on these standards and systems. It is hoped that pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies will actively engage and contribute to standards and infrastructure. The work developed as part of this bioinformatics effort will be accessible to the entire cancer research community. NCI also is exploring the formation of government/industry/academic partnership(s) to facilitate the dissemination and application of bioinformatics platforms that will optimize collaboration among sectors. It is envisioned that in such partnerships that groups could contribu
