Regulating Biobanks: An ethical analysis of the Spanish law and the new challenges of the big data-driven biomedical research

Abstract

In the European landscape, Spain represents a positive reference point when it comes to biobank regulation. Indeed, at the beginning of XXI century, the Spanish legislation has promptly responded to challenges posed by new biotechnologies and advances in genomics in the field of biomedical research by enacting in 2007 the Ley de Investigación Biomédica in order to keep up with the paradigm shift. Over the past 10 years, this Spanish framework along with the Real Decreto 1716/2011 has hold the merit to tackle the most controversial ethical issues related to use of human samples and personal data in biomedical research and biobanking (e.g. broad consent, secondary uses, governance, etc.). However, today the regulation of biomedical research and biobanks has to deal with big data, artificial intelligence and data-intensive research which have brought a number of challenges and controversies. The aim of this paper is two-fold. First, I will analyse from an ethical point of view the merits of Spanish regulation on biobanking in order to draw some lessons for the still unregulated situation in other Member States. Secondly, I will discuss the big data paradigm shift in biomedical research and question if the ethical and legal framework introduced the Spanish law at the beginning of the century is still able to hold the ground with the new contextual and societal challenges. In this respect, I will identify some opportunities for implementation and suggest strategies to achieve them in the specific context of biobanks.