Macrogen, a leading provider of gene sequencing services in South Korea, together with Bigster will create a medical platform based on blockchain. The new project will safely store different confidential information, including data on genes.
The site should be launched by June next year. Data that will be stored on the platform requires an extremely high level of protection. This is exactly what the distributed ledger technology (DLT) will be used for.
The project will be built on a private blockchain, that will be exclusively available to pharmaceuticals, research institutes, hospitals and gene sequencing companies.
So far, the technology has not become so widespread in the medical sector. However, medical organizations are increasingly considering various solutions based on blockchain.
Here are a few examples of how to use DLT in medicine.
Tracking supply chain
The technology can be used to track supply chain, for example, conventional drugs or drugs containing narcotic substances and subject to special control. DLT has been used for a long time in other areas of supply management, like food tracking. Blockchain will allow consumers to find out who actually manufactured the medical product. This will help exclude the possibility of counterfeiting medicines.
Some projects have already offered their visions of such systems. For example, MediLedger has united many participants in the pharmaceutical industry, among which are such giants as Pfizer, Genentech and a number of large distributors. This is an open network based on blockchain that regulates supply of pharmaceuticals. The need to create such a platform is also due to a bill that by 2023 will oblige all American pharmaceutical companies to provide free access to information on all prescription drug supplies. Blockchain is the most promising technology which can accomplish this task.
Patient data storage
In health sector, the issue of information management is particularly relevant. Now records about the medical history, vaccinations and in general all medical data is stored in electronic databases of clinics. Patients can not monitor these important and confidential documents. Theoretically, they can be transferred to third parties or simply lost due to a failure in the system.
A blockchain-based system is needed just to protect this information. The technology will allow you to create an application through which the patient himself will provide access to his medical data. Thus, use and storage of data will become as transparent as possible.
A similar system has already been implemented by the American SimplyVitalHealth. The project allows several clinics to exchange patient data. At the end of 2017 the company already announced the development of a new, larger infrastructure system. The startup Patientory also deals with this issue.
And recently, the American retail giant Walmart received a patent for a blocking service designed for medical records of the patient. Access to it can be obtained at the scene of an emergency situation when assistance is provided. In the event of an emergency, doctors should scan the patient's portable device with an RFID scanner, then obtain an encrypted private key, as well as a public key associated with the particular patient.