Blockchain Papers

Gary Leeming, John Ainsworth, David A. Clifton

No abstract is available for this record.

Olivia Choudhury, Noor Fairoza, Issa Sylla, Amar K. Das

The cost of conducting multi-site clinical trials has significantly increased over time, with site monitoring, data management, and amendments being key drivers. Clinical trial data management approaches typically rely on a central database, and require manual efforts to encode and maintain data capture and reporting requirements. To reduce the administrative burden, time, and effort of ensuring data integrity and privacy in multi-site trials, we propose a novel data management framework based on permissioned blockchain technology. We demonstrate how our framework, which uses smart contracts and private channels, enables confidential data communication, protocol enforcement, and and an automated audit trail. We compare this framework with the traditional data management approach and evaluate its effectiveness in satisfying the major requirements of multi-site clinical trials. We show that our framework ensures enforcement of IRB-related regulatory requirements across multiple sites and stakeholders.

Abderahman Rejeb, Liam Bell

No abstract is available for this record.

Mark E Abraham, A Vyshnavi, Chungath Srinivasan, P. K. Krishnan Namboori

No abstract is available for this record.

Marco Tieman, Mohd Ridzuan Darun, Yudi Fernando, Abu Bakar Ngah

No abstract is available for this record.

Anupam Kumar, Deepak Choudhary, M. Srikrishnam Raju, Dev Kumar Chaudhary · 5 authors

India, a global leader in manufacturing and the largest supplier of cost-effective generic drugs around the world, especially to the African countries under the United Nations aid, is facing a widespread fake drug epidemic. One of the major reasons behind this is the unregulated and complex drug supply chain. When a drug consignment change ownership from manufacturer to distributor and then to the wholesaler, no information is exchanged between the parties. We lack adequate auditability and transparency of the original source of drugs. Consequences include counterfeit drug problem, inefficient recall process of the drugs and lack of trust. By putting the entire drug supply chain of India on Blockchain, we propose to perform a quantitative analysis on leveraging unique blockchain properties like authenticity, accountability, and ability to handle sensitive information to solve India’s counterfeit drugs problem permanently. It will strengthen the supply chain and will introduce the much-needed transparency of transactions and quality assurance by tracking a drug through its entire lifecycle from the extraction of raw materials to the patient taking the drug. Along with this, smart contracts can be deployed which will provide automation, trust, and security to the system. Smart contracts are digital protocols that can be programmed to perform a task when a particular goal is reached without any intervention of a third party and can facilitate services like automatic payments, quality control, and trust between stakeholders.

Вiталiй Пашков, Oleksii Soloviov

Author analyzes the possibilities of using blockchain technology in pharmaceutical sphere with the purpose of detection of counterfeit and poor-quality medicinal products and discusses the legal acts concerning the use of this technology. Author examines the grounds for the legal provision of blockchain technology in pharmaceutical sector in order to protect the rights of patients. The necessity of legal regulation of the use of blockchain technology by private parties is substantiated taking into account the private legal nature of this system. The mechanism of application of this technology in pharmaceutical activity is revealed.

Randhir Kumar, Rakesh Tripathi

The main issues with drug safety in the counterfeit medicine supply chain, are to do with how the drugs are initially manufactured. The traceability of right and active pharmaceutical ingredients during actual manufacture is a difficult process, so detecting drugs that do not contain the intended active ingredients can ultimately lead to end-consumer patient harm or even death. Blockchain's advanced features make it capable of providing a basis for complete traceability of drugs, from manufacturer to end consumer, and the ability to identify counterfeit-drug. This paper aims to address the issue of drug safety using Blockchain and encrypted QR(quick response) code security.

Junseok Park, Seongkuk Park, Kwangmin Kim, Doheon Lee

We present a healthcare remedy evaluation system, called CORUS, using blockchain-based crowdsourcing on a cloud computing platform. Efficacy of healthcare remedies such as functional foods and dietary supplements usually spreads by subjective word of mouth. Though regular clinical trials could be employed, it requires significant cost in time and budget. We expect crowdsourcing can be an effective and efficient alternative to the costly clinical trials to achieve objective evaluation on healthcare remedies. The blockchain technology can alleviate the problem of information quality in most of crowdsourcing systems. Properly designed reward distribution schemes can motivate voluntary participants to provide with credible information. The distributed replication of blockchains can increase the information credibility by prohibiting malicious forgery. We also utilize the Amazon cloud system to enhance availability and scalability. To our knowledge, CORUS is the first system to utilize crowdsourcing, blockchains, and cloud computing for healthcare remedy evaluation. It is available at https://corus.kaist.edu.

Igor Radanović, Robert Likić

No abstract is available for this record.

Patrick G. Sylim, Fang Liu, Alvin Marcelo, Paul Fontelo

BACKGROUND: Drug counterfeiting is a global problem with significant risks to consumers and the general public. In the Philippines, 30% of inspected drug stores in 2003 were found with substandard/spurious/falsely-labeled/falsified/counterfeit drugs. The economic burden on the population drug expenditures and on governments is high. The Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) encourages the public to check the certificates of product registration and report any instances of counterfeiting. The National Police of Philippines responds to such reports through a special task force. However, no literature on its impact on the distribution of such drugs were found. Blockchain technology is a cryptographic ledger that is allegedly immutable through repeated sequential hashing and fault-tolerant through a consensus algorithm. This project will develop and test a pharmacosurveillance blockchain system that will support information sharing along the official drug distribution network. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to develop a pharmacosurveillance blockchain system and test its functions in a simulated network. METHODS: We are developing a Distributed Application (DApp) that will run on smart contracts, employing Swarm as the Distributed File System (DFS). Two instances will be developed: one for Ethereum and another for Hyperledger Fabric. The proof-of-work (PoW) consensus algorithm of Ethereum will be modified into a delegated proof-of-stake (DPoS) or practical Byzantine fault tolerance (PBFT) consensus algorithm as it is scalable and fits the drug supply chain environment. The system will adopt the GS1 pedigree standard and will satisfy the data points in the data standardization guidelines from the US FDA. Simulations will use the following 5 nodes: for FDA, manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer, and the consumer portal. RESULTS: Development is underway. The design of the system will place FDA in a supervisory data verification role, with each pedigree type-specific data source serving a primary data verification role. The supply chain process will be initiated by the manufacturer, with recursive verification for every transaction. It will allow consumers to scan a code printed on the receipt of their purchases to review the drug distribution history. CONCLUSIONS: Development and testing will be conducted in a simulated network, and thus, results may differ from actual practice. The project being proposed is disruptive; once tested, the team intends to engage the Philippine FDA to discuss implementation plans and formulate policies to facilitate adoption and sustainability. REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER: RR1-10.2196/10163.

Liam Bell, William J. Buchanan, Jonathan Cameron, Owen Lo

There are several areas of healthcare and well-being that could be enhanced using blockchain technologies. These include device tracking, clinical trials, pharmaceutical tracing, and health insurance. Within device tracking, hospitals can trace their asset within a blockchain infrastructure, including through the complete lifecycle of a device. The information gathered can then be used to improve patient safety and provide after-market analysis to improve efficiency savings. This paper outlines recent work within the areas of pharmaceutical traceability, data sharing, clinical trials, and device tracking. Keywords: Asset Tracking, Blockchain, Drug tracking, Ethereum, Healthcare, Internet of Things, IoT

Wookyun Kho

Blockchain is at the center of attention recently and it is expected to have a huge impact on healthcare industry including dentistry as well. Blockchain is a fundamental technology behind Bitcoin and itis all about decentralization, security, reliability, and transparency. These characteristics of the technology empower it to disrupt the current healthcare industry in innumerable practices such as supply chain management in pharmaceuticals to prevent the counterfeited medicine, clinical trials to guarantee transparency, healthcare information exchanges or personal health record systems to ensure data integrity and interoperability, etc. It will surely revolutionize the way the current healthcare system works; from provider-oriented to patient-centered. Hence, it is time to seriously consider how we could be a part of this blockchain revolution in dentistry.

Kevin A. Clauson, Elizabeth A. Breeden, Cameron Davidson, Tim K. Mackey

Background: Effective supply chain management is a challenge in every sector, but in healthcare there is added complexity and risk as a compromised supply chain in healthcare can directly impact patient safety and health outcomes. One potential solution for improving security, integrity, data provenance, and functionality of the health supply chain is blockchain technology. Objectives: Provide an overview of the opportunities and challenges associated with blockchain adoption and deployment for the health supply chain, with a focus on the pharmaceutical supply, medical device and supplies, Internet of Healthy Things (IoHT), and public health sectors. Methods: A narrative review was conducted of the academic literature, grey literature, and industry publications, in addition to identifying and characterizing select stakeholders engaged in exploring blockchain solutions for the health supply chain. Results: Critical challenges in protecting the integrity of the health supply chain appear well suited for adoption of blockchain technology. Use cases are emerging, including using blockchain to combat counterfeit medicines, securing medical devices, optimizing functionality of IoHT, and improving the public health supply chain. Despite these clear opportunities, most blockchain initiatives remain in proof-of-concept or pilot phase. Conclusion: Blockchain technology has the unrealized promise to help improve the health supply chain, but further study, evaluation and alignment with policy mechanisms is needed. Keywords: Blockchain, Distributed Ledger, Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical, Supply chain

Authors unavailable

Headline INTERNATIONAL: NSA surveillance may undermine bitcoin

Patrick G. Sylim, Fang Liu, Alvin Marcelo, Paul Fontelo

BACKGROUND Drug counterfeiting is a global problem with significant risks to consumers and the general public. In the Philippines, 30% of inspected drug stores in 2003 were found with substandard/spurious/falsely-labeled/falsified/counterfeit drugs. The economic burden on the population drug expenditures and on governments is high. The Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) encourages the public to check the certificates of product registration and report any instances of counterfeiting. The National Police of Philippines responds to such reports through a special task force. However, no literature on its impact on the distribution of such drugs were found. Blockchain technology is a cryptographic ledger that is allegedly immutable through repeated sequential hashing and fault-tolerant through a consensus algorithm. This project will develop and test a pharmacosurveillance blockchain system that will support information sharing along the official drug distribution network. OBJECTIVE This study aims to develop a pharmacosurveillance blockchain system and test its functions in a simulated network. METHODS We are developing a Distributed Application (DApp) that will run on smart contracts, employing Swarm as the Distributed File System (DFS). Two instances will be developed: one for Ethereum and another for Hyperledger Fabric. The proof-of-work (PoW) consensus algorithm of Ethereum will be modified into a delegated proof-of-stake (DPoS) or practical Byzantine fault tolerance (PBFT) consensus algorithm as it is scalable and fits the drug supply chain environment. The system will adopt the GS1 pedigree standard and will satisfy the data points in the data standardization guidelines from the US FDA. Simulations will use the following 5 nodes: for FDA, manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer, and the consumer portal. RESULTS Development is underway. The design of the system will place FDA in a supervisory data verification role, with each pedigree type–specific data source serving a primary data verification role. The supply chain process will be initiated by the manufacturer, with recursive verification for every transaction. It will allow consumers to scan a code printed on the receipt of their purchases to review the drug distribution history. CONCLUSIONS Development and testing will be conducted in a simulated network, and thus, results may differ from actual practice. The project being proposed is disruptive; once tested, the team intends to engage the Philippine FDA to discuss implementation plans and formulate policies to facilitate adoption and sustainability. REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER RR1-10.2196/10163

Marco Tieman, Mohd Ridzuan Darun

Halal supply chains are vulnerable due to their credence quality attributes, importance of maintaining halal integrity throughout the supply chain, need to avoid doubt, lack of control of food norms, and sensitivity of the Muslim consumer towards halal. These vulnerabilities make halal supply chains complex to design, manage, and optimise. Transparency of halal supply chains is needed in order to ensure trust and authenticity of a halal brand. The principle of a shared database that is safe, open and verifiable without a central operator is an attractive proposition to embed trust and authenticity for halal food, cosmetics, home care, and pharmaceuticals.

Jani Kurki

In this thesis, I explore how blockchain technology can improve pharmaceutical supply chain operations and discuss how the technology should be implemented. Furthermore, I study how the life science company Bayer's pharmaceutical division can utilize blockchain technology in its supply chain operations. I begin by defining the concepts of blockchain technology, smart contracts and pharmaceutical supply chain. Then I discuss the benefits and implementation in different sections: participating entities and information flow, contracts and payments, logistics, transparency and product security and blockchain infrastructure and governance. Both Bayer and the industry as a whole can benefit from blockchain technology. Blockchain enables for example efficient, safe and private transactions, product transparency and security and open information sharing without exposing trade secrets. For the first time a platform for all stakeholders can be developed that enables transacting information and value simultaneously.