Vishal Pratap Singh | Sunday, 17 April 2022
The digital transformation has brought many technologies for the industries that help to enhance organisations’ performance, transparency and security levels. Blockchain is one of those inventions which was introduced over a decade ago and now it is not only used for crypto currency platforms but it has also evolved into something more significant with the powers to change the rules and introduce new ways for cooperation.
“Blockchain can help Indian drug manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies and healthcare experts to eliminate fake drug distribution”, says Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog. The global healthcare blockchain market is projected to reach USD 829.0 million by 2023 from USD 53.9 million in 2018, at a CAGR of 72.8 per cent.
Supply Chain Enhancement
The enhancement of the supply chain within the field is one of the main concerns for companies. The solution is beneficial in this case as it can ensure fast and secure transactions or operations across the globe.
In addition, pharmaceutical companies can use this asset to establish auditable trials and medicine origins along the supply chain. It means that everyone from manufacturers to clients could verify the source of the drug, its development process, quality and delivery conditions in a safe environment.
Usually, the supply chain under consideration is complex and involves numerous parties. The technology allows creating a safe environment that can be managed with one piece of software. The solution promotes transparency and security, as this type of database is distributed. The parties involved in the supply chain should all follow the established protocol of the system, so they will be able to review, share and update data and be sure that the information is up-to-date and provided on time.
Control over Medicine Development Process
The usage of blockchain will help companies to reduce the number of frauds found on the market, as the parties could control the process of medicine development from end to end. As it is found in the lot of surveys, one out of ten drugs that are presented in the market is fake.
The number is even more significant in third world countries. Thus, it can be said that the implementation of distributed systems will help humanity on the global level by enhancing the performance of the enterprises and the quality of their products. In the future, it would result in better medical treatments and a reduction of fatal cases. Also, it will result in enforced trust and transparency.
Enhance the Performance of Clinical Trials
The solution has the potential to enhance the performance of clinical trials. The platform’s nature is unchangeable, ensuring that clinical trials and protocols are strictly maintained and followed.
As the system is distributed across various parties and it is almost impossible to decode the blockchain, the system stays secure. Even if a part of the architecture is hacked, the information will not disappear, as other parties contain it. Therefore, it can assure privacy and accuracy of clinical trial data. In addition to this, stakeholders can create public registries to access the results of clinical trials.
Helps in Data Management of Patients
Systems based on blockchain technology are able to facilitate the data management of patients and distribution across different providers, from insurance organisations to research ones.
“Patients will have the right to control access to their personal data and share only relevant inputs from their accounts”, says Shailender Kumar, Regional Managing Director, Oracle India. Blockchain will serve as a database to track and store the information of patients.
So, organisations across the whole healthcare system could use a single identifier to see needed information.
Improved Drug Discovery
Blockchain can be helpful to overcome hurdles in the research and development cycles. It has the potential to improve the drug discovery and development process as it facilitates collaboration between organisations in the industry and academic ones, as well as philanthropic groups.
For an instance, smart contractors will reduce the time to market the new medicine, as businesses will not need additional resources to participate in the process. Industry experts believe that when this technology will be combined with artificial intelligence, machine learning and natural language processing will result in better data mining and analysis of the existing literature or patent applications.
In addition to this, the security provided by the blockchain has advantages for intellectual property protection, ensuring that new research data and findings cannot be hacked.
Inventory Management
The proper integration of the technology into the supply chain will give pharmaceutical companies better control and management of their inventory. For example, it can be automated to send out requests for more drug products in demand.
Conclusion
The initiatives that could be created through blockchain in the pharmaceutical industry are vast much more than nearly any other industry. Blockchain will have a significant impact on multiple aspects of pharmaceutical for years to come. If not yet, all stakeholders in the pharmaceutical industry should be looking at blockchain as an immense opportunity to make every part of the life cycle better for sponsors, service producers, supply chain and most importantly, patients.
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