This week, we will have a five-part series highlighting the legal issues presented by blockchain applications in a number of different industries. Today, we’re looking into the legal considerations of implementing the blockchain in the pharmaceutical industry. Among other benefits, distributed ledger technology can help reduce sales of counterfeit drugs and improve supply chain management, increase the security of digital patient records, improve processing of health insurance claims, and enhance the reliability and accuracy of clinical trials.
One of the biggest problems in the pharmaceutical industry is the proliferation of counterfeit drugs, which are increasingly difficult to detect and regulate. Sales of counterfeit pharmaceuticals are a billion-dollar business, and pharmaceutical companies invest enormous resources in sophisticated efforts to prevent and investigate counterfeiting of their products all over the globe. But the impact of this problem goes far beyond dollars and cents – because it places consumers’ lives directly at risk.