[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 195 (Friday, October 8, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62406-62407]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-25411]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
National Institutes of Health
Plan To Develop a Genetic Testing Registry at the National
Institutes of Health; Public Meeting; Request for Comments
AGENCY: National Institutes of Health, HHS.
ACTION: Notice of public meeting; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The National Institutes of Health is announcing a public
meeting to gather stakeholder perspectives on its plan to develop the
Genetic Testing Registry. The meeting will provide a forum for
interested stakeholders to provide comments on specific aspects of the
plan.
Date and Time: The public meeting will be held November 2, 2010,
from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Location: The public meeting will be held at the Walter E. Johnson
Convention Center, Room 147, 801 Mount Vernon Place, NW., Washington,
DC 20001. For directions, please contact the Convention Center at 202-
249-3000 or refer to the following Web site: http://www.dcconvention.com/.
Special accommodations: Anyone planning to attend the meeting who
needs special assistance, such as sign language interpretation or other
reasonable accommodations, is asked to contact Cathy Fomous (see
Contacts section) by October 26, 2010.
Registration: If you wish to attend the public meeting, please
register by October 27, 2010. Registration is free and on a first-come,
first-served basis. Pre-registration can be completed online at http://oba.od.nih.gov/gtr/gtr_meetings.html. Persons without Internet access
may call Ms. Nicole Numbers at 301-650-8660. Onsite registration will
be based on space availability.
Requests for Oral Presentations: Interested persons who would like
to make oral comments during the meeting will be given 5 minutes to do
so if they submit their request by October 27, 2010, to Cathy Fomous.
Send requests by e-mail to [email protected]; by fax to 301-496-9839;
or via postal service to Cathy Fomous, Ph.D., Office of Biotechnology
Activities, National Institutes of Health, 6705 Rockledge Dr., Suite
750, Bethesda, MD 20892. The request should include the commenter's
name, title, affiliation, address, e-mail address, and telephone
number. All requests should indicate which questions outlined below in
the section on Public Meeting Focus will be addressed. Depending on the
number of individuals and organizations that submit requests to make
oral remarks, the allotted time may be expanded or shortened to provide
all interested parties an opportunity to present.
Written Comments: Interested persons who cannot attend the meeting
may submit written comments on the questions outlined below. Comments
should be submitted to Cathy Fomous via e-mail, fax, or postal service
using the above contact information. The comment period for written
comments closes on November 12, 2010.
Contacts: For questions about the meeting logistics, please contact
Ms. Nicole Numbers at [email protected] or 301-650-8660.
For special accommodations or questions about the meeting agenda and
public comments, please contact Cathy Fomous, Ph.D., NIH Office of
Biotechnology Activities at [email protected] or 301-496-9838.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Advances in the knowledge of genetic factors involved in health and
disease have been accompanied by a rapid rise in the availability of
genetic tests, including those tests that diagnose or assess the risk
for disease, provide prognostic information, and guide the selection of
drug therapies and dosing. Although more than 2,000 genetic tests are
available, there is no public resource that provides centralized
information about the availability and scientific basis of these tests.
On March 18, 2010, the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
announced its intent to develop the Genetic Testing
[[Page 62407]]
Registry (GTR) to provide access to information that enables informed
decision making by patients, caregivers, health care professionals,
clinical laboratory professionals, payers, and policy makers. The goals
of the GTR are to promote transparency by encouraging test providers to
share information about the purpose and validity of their tests;
provide a resource for the public--including health care providers,
patients, and researchers--to locate laboratories that offer particular
tests; and facilitate genomic data sharing for research and new
scientific discoveries.
The GTR project is overseen by the NIH Office of the Director. The
National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), part of the
National Library of Medicine at NIH, is responsible for developing the
registry, which is expected to be available in 2011.
As part of the development process, the NIH issued a Request for
Information (RFI) on July 12, 2010, to seek input from the public on
its plan for this project. The RFI comment period ended August 2, 2010.
NIH received 68 comments in response to the RFI, and these comments are
available at http://oba.od.nih.gov/gtr/gtr_comments.html.
II. Public Meeting Focus
NIH will begin the November 2 public meeting with an overview of
the public comments that were received in response to the RFI and a
presentation of prototype data elements for the GTR. The remainder of
the meeting will be dedicated to a moderated discussion of responses to
specific questions about the GTR. The meeting agenda will be available
on the Internet at http://oba.od.nih.gov/gtr/gtr_meetings.html.
The RFI comments have been helpful in the development of a
prototype of registry data elements. However, NIH seeks further public
input on specific aspects of the GTR and requests that comments address
the questions below. If time permits, discussion of additional issues
will be accommodated.
1. Based on an analysis of RFI comments and other operational
issues, NIH is considering a phased approach to developing the GTR in
which some types of tests would be eligible for early entry in the GTR
and other types of tests would be added later. If NIH adopts this
approach, what criteria should be used to determine which genetic tests
should be included in the first phase of the GTR, and what types of
tests would meet these criteria?
2. Several RFI responders, who are potential data submitters, noted
that it makes more sense for clinicians and genetics professionals to
be the source of clinical utility evidence rather than test developers
and/or test providers. Given that data submitters are unlikely to have
clinical utility information, how is this data element best addressed
in the GTR?
3. Among responders to the RFI question about including a data
element for test cost, half were in favor of including cost information
and half were opposed. What are the benefits, risks, and challenges of
including cost information in the GTR?
4. What safeguards can be put in place to prevent GTR users from
misunderstanding, misinterpreting, or misusing the information in the
Registry?
5. What mechanisms can be used to provide materials that explain
the GTR's data elements to audiences with varying technical expertise?
Dated: October 5, 2010.
Amy P. Patterson,
Acting Associate Director for Science Policy, NIH.
[FR Doc. 2010-25411 Filed 10-7-10; 8:45 am]
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