Scientists urge GPs to share UK patient data for research into new treatments

Researchers call on the government to settle dispute, which they say is impeding groundbreaking research

Researchers have called on the government to step in to settle a dispute preventing them from fully exploiting the world's largest store of human genetic data. The scientists say they are unable to access patients' data, held by British GPs, despite a decade of requests, and that the refusal is impeding the development of new diagnoses and treatments.

Prof Naomi Allen, chief scientist of UK Biobank, told the Observer it had sequenced genomes of more than 500,000 volunteers and collated a host of other data about them. However, it was still prevented from accessing their primary health care data held by their GPs.