A deal has been struck between UK Meds, an online pharmacy, and Stratis, a blockchain development company to adopt Stratis’ blockchain platform for the improvement of patient safety.
The first steps taken in this endeavor are by UK Meds, with the hope that this technology will spread and be implemented as a standard in the UK online pharmaceutical industry, with more online pharmacies to get on board the bandwagon later on.
The platform aims to up the safety game across the industry, by cutting down the cases of multiple prescription orders, only permitting the patients to purchase the prescribed quantities of medication. This is done by every prescription request being recorded on the blockchain of an association of online pharmacies in the UK.
Patient cross-referencing will be possible for doctors that consult online and pharmacies that make the medication. Each patient will have a unique number on the blockchain, which will allow to track down those, who are trying to acquire several orders of drugs classed as illegal, for instance, opioids. Any prior application for medication will be identified by the platform.
Using Stratis blockchain technology, UK Meds also plans to make their supply chain more efficient by introducing Smart Contracts to the process. All the information about the medication and its movements, such as production date, transportation and distribution will be recorded on the blockchain.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
- This technology is aimed at improving the security in the market of online pharmaceuticals, which could potentially save lives.
- The medical and pharmaceutical industries are among the front liners in the usage and implementation of blockchain, finding new ways to use the technology to their advantage.