[Justin_K]

There is a huge public benefit to analyzing this data.

[voxgen]

The patients know this. Asking for consent would still yield the vast majority of the data.

It would also mean more people analyzing it - I know at least one big pharma company that won't touch patient data that was taken without consent because they don't want to be associated with such unethical practices.

[kelseyfrog]

Worth more than the right to privacy?

[xcrunner529]

Yes.