U.S FDA to Create a Proof-of-Concept With IBM and Three Other Firms for Drugs Supply Chain

The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced it would be collaborating with four high-profile companies to create a proof-of-concept blockchain network, according to the report by the Media Outlet ZDNet.

The partnership involving the FDA and a team of companies including Walmart, KPMG, IBM, and Merck, is solely on the modification of the US Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA). This would enable the FDA and other organizations in the drug supply chain to trace and identify the distribution of prescription drugs.

The companies, via the proposed system, hope to address some significant problems facing the current drug supply chain process such as products integrity, latency in the tracking and tracing of inventory, and accuracy of data shared within members of the supply network,

The IBM’s Global Solution Leader for Blockchain in Health and Life Sciences, Mark Treshock, noted that Blockchain technology could provide more rooms for a new approach that further improves the trust in the pharmaceutical distribution chain.

“We believe this is an ideal use for the technology because it can not only provide an audit trail that tracks drugs within the supply chain; it can track who has shared data and with whom, without revealing the data itself. Blockchain has the potential to transform how pharmaceutical data is controlled, managed, shared and acted upon throughout the life history of a drug,” Treshock added.

IBM notably, has been piloting several blockchain technology application in different supply chain sectors, including food, Telecommunications,  shipping, banking, and others.

Coinformania recently reported that the International Business Machines (IBM) would be piloting a blockchain solution for the Indian Telecommunication industry on the bid to enhance their mobile services, including the Do Not Call (DNC) registries and Mobile Number Portability (MNP) within the country.