In particular, cryptoassets which are built on these technologies - such as the cryptocurrency Bitcoin - have courted a lot of media attention since the start of the year due to the huge fluctuations in value that they've seen.
Leaving aside the hype around cryptoassets, it should not be overlooked that distributed ledger technologies are hoped to hold the key to unlocking some enormous benefits in a wide variety of industries. In the pharmaceutical industry, one form of the technologies that is being examined closely is blockchain, which the industry hopes could be exploited to improve the global supply chain and help in the fight against counterfeit medicines.
As we highlighted here back in March of last year, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has led to a rise in seizures of counterfeit medicines. The increased proliferation of counterfeit medicines creates a serious health threat to patients, significant challenges for enforcement authorities and diminishes the trust that exists between organisations involved in the supply chain.
Following the UK's withdrawal from the EU, the threat posed by counterfeit medicines has been recognised as an important matter to be addressed as part of the changes that are being made to the regulatory framework which governs the UK pharmaceutical sector. The Medicine and Medical Devices Bill, which is currently working its way through Parliament, will introduce a scheme that is designed to protect the UK supply chain against counterfeit medicines and to prevent them from falling into the hands of patients.
Against this backdrop, blockchain has been identified by the pharmaceutical industry as a technology that could be a gamechanger in the fight against counterfeit medicines. This is because blockchain has a number of properties which give it the potential to radically improve the accuracy and reliability of the information that is shared in the supply chain about the origins and tracking status of drugs. These properties include:
It is hoped that realising these benefits would lead to increased trust in the supply chain and make it harder for the supply chain to be infiltrated by counterfeiters.
A major project investigating the potential for using blockchain in the pharmaceutical supply chain is Pharmaledger which is being carried out by a consortium of 29 partners that includes 12 global pharmaceutical companies. The project's website explains that the consortium is investigating the use of blockchain in the supply chain because it is "one of the most promising and potentially efficient tracking, verification and authentication technologies".
Pharmaledger is sponsored by the Innovative Medicines Initiative and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations. Together, these organisations have made financial and in-kind contributions to the project of more than €22.1m.
The application of blockchain to improve the industry supply chain is just one aspect of exploiting the technology which Pharmaledger is looking into. It is also investigating the benefits that blockchain could have for health data and clinical trials.
As the cryptocurrency phenomenon demonstrates, distributed ledger technologies have great potential to disrupt established markets and industries.
The pharmaceutical industry is taking a very significant interest in these technologies, particularly blockchain. There are very promising signs that blockchain could be harnessed to improve the global pharmaceutical supply chain and protect it from counterfeit medicines. It is to be welcomed that projects such as Pharmaledger show that the industry is approaching the technology with optimism and in a spirit of collaboration. It will be very interesting to see how things develop through 2021.