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Schultz B, Agamah FE, Ewuoso C, Madden EB, Troyer J, Skelton M, Mwaka E. Webinar report: stakeholder perspectives on informed consent for the use of genomic data by commercial entities. JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ETHICS 2023; 50:57-61. [PMID: 36941048 PMCID: PMC10804035 DOI: 10.1136/jme-2022-108650] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2022] [Accepted: 02/27/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
In July 2020, the H3Africa Ethics and Community Engagement (E&CE) Working Group organised a webinar with ethics committee members and biomedical researchers from various African institutions throughout the Continent to discuss the issue of whether and how biological samples for scientific research may be accessed by commercial entities when broad consents obtained for the samples are silent. 128 people including Research Ethics Committee members (10), H3Africa researchers (46) including members of the E&CE working group, biomedical researchers not associated with H3Africa (27), representatives from the National Institutes of Health (16) and 10 other participants attended the webinar and shared their views. Several major themes emerged during the webinar, with the topics of broad versus explicit informed consent, defining commercial use, legacy samples and benefit sharing prevailing in the discussion. This report describes the consensus concerns and recommendations raised during the meeting and will be informative for future research on ethical considerations for genomic research in the African research context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Baergen Schultz
- National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Francis E Agamah
- Computational Biology Division, Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Cornelius Ewuoso
- Medicine, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
| | - Ebony B Madden
- Training, Diversity and Health Equity Office, Office of the Director, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Jennifer Troyer
- National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
| | - Michelle Skelton
- Computational Biology Division, Department of Integrative Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Erisa Mwaka
- College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
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Mwaka ES, Bagenda G, Sebatta DE, Nabukenya S, Munabi I. Benefit sharing in genomic and biobanking research in Uganda: Perceptions of researchers and research ethics committee members. Front Genet 2022; 13:1037401. [DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2022.1037401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/05/2022] [Accepted: 10/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Genomic and biobanking research has increased in Africa over the past few years. This has raised pertinent ethical, legal, and societal concerns for stakeholders such as sample or data ownership, commercialization, and benefit sharing. There is limited awareness of the concept of benefit sharing by stakeholders in sub-Saharan Africa.Objective: This study aimed to explore the perceptions of researchers and research ethics committee members on benefit sharing in international collaborative genomic and biobanking research.Methods: Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with 15 researchers and 19 research ethics committee members. A thematic approach was used to interpret the results.Results: Six themes emerged from the data and these included perceptions on the benefits of genomic and biobanking research; discussion of benefit sharing with participants during the informed consent process; legal implications of benefit sharing and the role of material transfer agreements; equity and fairness in sharing the benefits of genomic research; perceived barriers to fair benefit sharing; and recommendations for fostering fair and equitable benefit sharing in genomic and biobanking research. Most respondents clearly understood the various forms of benefits of genomic and biobanking research and opined that such benefits should be fairly and equitably shared with low and middle-income country researchers and their institutions, and research communities. The perceived barriers to the fair benefit sharing unfavorable include power disparities, weak research regulatory frameworks, and lack of scientific integrity.Conclusion: Overall, respondents believed that the distribution of the advantages of genomic and biobanking research in North-South collaborative research was not equitable nor fair, and that the playing field was not leveled. Therefore, we advocate the following for fair and equitable benefit sharing: Building the capacities and empowering research scientists in developing nations; strengthening regulatory frameworks and extending the purview of the research ethics committee in the development and implementation of material transfer agreements; and meaningfully involving local research communities in benefit sharing negotiations.
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Petersen DC, Steyl C, Scholtz D, Baker B, Abdullah I, Uren C, Möller M. African Genetic Representation in the Context of SARS-CoV-2 Infection and COVID-19 Severity. Front Genet 2022; 13:909117. [PMID: 35620464 PMCID: PMC9127354 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2022.909117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2022] [Accepted: 04/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Desiree C Petersen
- DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Tuberculosis Research, South African Medical Research Council Centre for Tuberculosis Research, Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Chrystal Steyl
- DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Tuberculosis Research, South African Medical Research Council Centre for Tuberculosis Research, Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Denise Scholtz
- DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Tuberculosis Research, South African Medical Research Council Centre for Tuberculosis Research, Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Bienyameen Baker
- DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Tuberculosis Research, South African Medical Research Council Centre for Tuberculosis Research, Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Ibtisam Abdullah
- Division of Haematological Pathology, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University and NHLS Tygerberg Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Caitlin Uren
- DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Tuberculosis Research, South African Medical Research Council Centre for Tuberculosis Research, Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa.,Centre for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
| | - Marlo Möller
- DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Tuberculosis Research, South African Medical Research Council Centre for Tuberculosis Research, Division of Molecular Biology and Human Genetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa.,Centre for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa
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