Prognosis
Blockchain Hype May Finally Turn Into Reality in Pharmaceuticals
- U.S. law requires closer tracking of drug supply chain
- Blockchain record-keeping can track drugs by the package
Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
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Blockchain believers have delivered little more than hype, mostly failing to get it deployed outside the cryptocurrency space where the technology was developed. But a little-noticed U.S. law could change that, bringing the ledger system to the pharmaceutical business.
The Drug Supply Chain Security Act from 2013 requires drug companies and their supply-chain partners to more closely track where their finished products are shipped, making counterfeit medicines harder to sneak into the system and easing drug recalls.