FDA to Launch Drug Supply Chain Security Act Regional Pilot Project

Blockchain technology has another opportunity to become a prime pharmacy technology. 

One of blockchain’s potential applications to the pharmacy industry, the Drug Supply Chain Security Act, will be tested In August in a multiregional pilot project studying the use of the technology to tract intra- and inter-healthcare system medicine transfers. 

Blockchain has been touted for its potential to reduce fraud and increase security within pharmacy, and has even seen implementation into programs like RemediChain that will help legally redistribute unused cancer medications. 

The pilot will be conducted in health system transfers in North Carolina, Indiana, and Tennessee, and will include various technology applications. The FDA has selected Good Shephard Pharmacy and RemediChain, Rymedi, Temptime/Zebra Technologies, Indiana University Health, WakeMed Hospitals and Health, the Center for Supply Chain Studies, and the Global Health Policy Institute. 

Good Shephard Pharmacy and RemediChain will apply the solution to medicine transfers in their approach of connecting donors with patients unable to afford specialty and rare disease medications.

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Rymedi’s next-generation blockchain platform will ease the integration of upstream supply data between the manufacturer and linking of patient medicine use and outcomes data for high-value regulatory-grade real world evidence.

Temptime, which is now a part of Zebra Technologies, will apply sensors to provide temperature monitoring that is essential for many specialty medicines. 

The Center for Supply Chain Studies and the Global Health Policy Institute at the University of California San Diego will provide the design and evaluation support to optimize the pilot’s impact on policy and industry standards development. 

Indiana University Health, the largest hospital network in Indiana, will work with WakeMed Health and Hospitals in Raleigh, NC, to implement the consortium solution to track the specialty medicines across provider locations.