Large pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer Inc and Eli Lilly & Company are exploring the possibilities of blockchain in tracking prescription drugs across the supply chain, Reuters reports.
By using blockchain the companies want to better halt the flow of counterfeit medicines, the officials say.
Approximately two dozen companies in the pharmaceutical industry created the blockchain-based MediLedger Network, which is focused on testing the verification of drug returns.
MediLedger’s custodian Chronicled CEO Susanne Somerville says the MediLedger’s group submitted a report to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration describing the benefits of blockchain for the industry.
"Even though the drug supply in the United States is safe, there are small percentages ... of potential counterfeit drugs. Certainly, there’s a lot of evidence of diverted drugs," Somerville said.
Last year, the National Cancer Institute announced it was developing a blockchain-based information system for medical image sharing between different entities, particularly facilitating image transfer to enable a data library of medical images for an AI/ML application to improve image processing, analysis, reconstruction, and enhancement.
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