Biobanks as resources for health

The potential benefits of biomedicine and biotechnology are considerable, but this is also an area of science and medicine that is sometimes found controversial. Decisions made by scientists, by health care professionals and by policymakers must be well informed and based on knowledge and sound research. Legal experts concerned with public law and intellectual property rights, philosophers and social pharmacists have been collaborating with geneticists, pathologists and doctors in several research projects in order to seek the kind of biobank management that would satisfy the interests of both the research community and the general public as regards new medicines and forms of treatment, whilst protecting the integrity of the individual. A summary of that research is presented in this book. The research was funded by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (through the ELSA programme), the Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems (VINNOVA), the Federation of County Councils, the National Board of Health and Welfare and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (through the Biobank Programme of SweGene and Wallenberg Consortium North). The research programme Ethics in Biomedicine at Uppsala University initiates and coordinates multi-disciplinary research networks at universities in Sweden and abroad. Information about the research programme can be accessed through www.bioethics.uu.se