Our Innovation Analysts recently looked into emerging technologies and up-and-coming startups working on solutions for the pharma sector. As there are many startups working on a wide variety of solutions, we want to share our insights with you. This time, we take a look at 5 promising blockchain solutions.
Heat Map: 5 Top Blockchain Solutions
Using our StartUs Insights Platform, covering 1.116.000+ startups & emerging companies, we looked at innovation in the pharma industry. For this research, we identified 145 relevant solutions and picked 5 to showcase below. These companies were chosen based on a data-driven startup scouting approach, taking into account factors such as location, founding year, and technology among others. Depending on your specific criteria, the top picks might look entirely different.
The Global Startup Heat Map below highlights 5 startups & emerging companies developing blockchain solutions for the pharma industry. Moreover, the Heat Map reveals regions that observe a high startup activity and illustrates the geographic distribution of all 145 companies we analyzed for this specific topic.
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StaTwig – Vaccine Supply Chain
When being transported and stored, vaccines require low temperatures at all times. In the absence of a functioning cold chain, the vaccines lose their efficacy. However, a large number of vaccines are unsafe to use by the time they reach the patient due to inefficient cold chains and supply chain mismanagement. This is where blockchain-based solutions reduce the overall logistics cost and make supply chains more efficient.
StaTwig is an Indian startup that offers solutions to improve the vaccine supply chain. VaccineLedgerTM allows end-to-end tracing of vaccines throughout the vaccine supply chain. The blockchain-based solution records real-time tamperproof data to enhance transparency for all stakeholders. It assigns a unique ID and alphanumeric code to every product to trace its life cycle from production to distribution at the pharmacy of hospitals.
FarmaTrust – Clinical Trials
The pharma industry is highly regulated as the products directly affect the health of millions of people. Regulators need to be assured of transparency and fairness of clinical trials, as well as the validity of the evidence before they approve a drug. Blockchain-based solutions are now being favored in clinical trials because of the security, transparency, and immutability of data they offer.
UK-based startup FarmaTrust develops Ethereum blockchain-based solutions for the pharma industry. It uses blockchain to ensure secure anonymization and, therefore, true double-blind testing. The startup uses smartphone apps to notify patients when they should take the medicines in trials and wearables to monitor how they respond to medicines. The solution allows pharma companies to get quicker regulatory approval and allow direct access to the data to the interested parties.
BlockMedx – Electronic Prescribing
Handwritten prescriptions are prone to misinterpretation and often cause incorrect dosage or administration of the wrong drug. Patients may lose their prescriptions, forget to fill them regularly, or stop taking medicine pre-maturely. Paper prescriptions make it nearly impossible for doctors to track these events. Electronic prescribing addresses these problems, as well as enhances safety and reduces wait times at the pharmacies.
BlockMedx is a US-based startup that uses blockchain to offer electronic prescription solutions. Through the blockchain technology, the startup securely sends and receives electronic prescriptions and tracks them as well. BlockMedx also uses prescriptive analytics to predict patient risk behaviors. The solution is free for patients and pharmacies and provides seamless continuity of patient care across different doctors and healthcare facilities.
Hypertrust Patient Data Care – Real-World Data
When testing for a new drug, double-blind clinical trials are the standard to establish if it has any significant effects. However, different patient groups may respond differently to the same treatment. Real-world data from sources such as electronic health records (EHRs), disease registries, claims, and billing data, and wearables now offer a lot of data outside the context of a clinical trial. Blockchain enables secure data transfer from these sources to facilitate the growing use of real-world data in pharma.
German startup Hypertrust Patient Data Care provides blockchain-based solutions that enable secure handling of patient data. The startup uses blockchain to generate more relevant data throughout the treatment process. The solution allows for an improved understanding of a patient’s disease and better treatment support. Additionally, this enables the drug development process to support personalized medicine.
Humanscape – Rare Diseases
Since rare diseases affect only a minute fraction of the population, the pharma industry has largely ignored them. Due to a limited number of clinical trials, there is a severe lack of patient data on these diseases. Blockchain-based patient registries allow the storage of symptom information of rare disease patients while maintaining their privacy.
Humanscape is a South Korean startup that offers a platform for personalized information on rare diseases. Rarenote uses blockchain technology to secure patients’ health data, including their genetic test results and information on their symptoms and medical treatments. The anonymized data is accessible by pharmaceutical companies and research institutes, if the patient consents to it, to advance novel drug development.
What About The Other 140 Solutions?
While we believe data is key to creating insights it can be easy to be overwhelmed by it. Our ambition is to create a comprehensive overview and provide actionable innovation intelligence so you can achieve your goals faster. The 5 blockchain solutions showcased above are promising examples out of 145 we analyzed for this article. To identify the most relevant solutions based on your specific criteria, get in touch.
