643subsets with the potential to aid biological interpretation. This framework will
extend to incorporate any form of data, including emerging forms of genomic data,
and facilitate development of personalized prognosis.
Global Scope of Personalized Medicine
Development of personalized medicine needs to be considered against the back-
ground of current healthcare trends, which vary from one country to another. Basic
healthcare depends on the economic resources, political systems, healthcare organi-
zation, government support and allocations of fi nances. There are differences in
healthcare standards between the developing and the developed countries.
Personalized medicine will be initially introduced in the Western developed coun-
tries. US is likely to be the fi rst country to introduce personalized medicine on a
large scale and some countries in the EU will follow.
Global Alliance for Genomics and Health
The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health ( http://genomicsandhealth.org/ ) is an
independent, non-governmental alliance, made up of hundreds of world-leading
organizations and individuals from across the world, who are dedicated to improv-
ing human health by maximizing the potential of genomic medicine through effec-
tive and responsible data sharing. The promise of genomic data to revolutionize
biology and medicine depends critically on our ability to make comparisons across
millions of human genome sequences, but this requires coordination across organi-
zations, methods, diseases, and even countries. The members of the Global Alliance
are working together to create interoperable approaches and catalyze initiatives to
help unlock the potential of genomic data.
Since its formation in 2013, the Alliance has grown to 218 member organizations
in 27 countries and is leading the way to enable genomic as well as clinical data
sharing. Its Working Groups are producing high-impact deliverables to ensure that
responsible sharing is possible, such as developing a Framework for Data Sharing
to guide governance and research and a Genomics API to allow for the interoperable
exchange of data. The Working Groups are also catalyzing key collaborative proj-
ects that aim to share real-world data.
Personalized Medicine in Canada
Canada has one of the best healthcare systems in the world with the widest coverage
of its population. Considerable advances have taken place in biotechnology for health-
care in recent years and these are being translated into clinical applications. There are
a number of examples of personalized programs and some are briefl y described here.
Global Scope of Personalized Medicine