Blockchain began trending hard towards the latter half of 2017, but by the time social media and news outlets got on board with the new technology, corporations and startups across the region were already ahead of the curve.
Sioux Falls-based DAKOTA Life Sciences is one example of a company that has implemented blockchain technology for real-use business practices, not just for prototyping or testing.
Leaders from the seven-year-old pharmaceutical firm recently announced that they’re adopting blockchain for the company’s new global drug protection software and information technology suite.
A press release put out by DAKOTA Life Science says the new software suite is designed to provide global protection for users of critical pharmaceuticals and enhanced logistics chain reliability.
“DAKOTA Life Sciences views pharma drug security in several dimensions including physical security, product integrity for the end-user patients, and also protection against global potency-limiting mechanisms,” said Steven Keough, President of DAKOTA Life Sciences.
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DAKOTA Life Sciences is using blockchain and genomics technologies to protect new classes of antibiotics that currently have very little drug resistance. This extends the effective lives of those drugs.
“Our early work focused on the data interface to ensure the correct pathogenic strain was rapidly matched with the most appropriate antibiotic, but our current advancement is even more exciting,” said Keogh.
Key aspects of the company’s blockchain employment are its capabilities for both public and private nodes, physical tracking and logistics, and enabling new levels of local drug resistance monitoring. This will enable new capabilities for monitoring drug resistance patterns globally, and proper adjustment to those patterns to maintain the best patient care.
“Blockchain technologies can help keep information secure but accessible to the correct parties, which ultimately improves the entire process of record keeping and patient care,” said Clayton Mooney, Co-Founder and CEO of Nebullam, LLC, and Blockchain Gospel Co-Founder and Editor in Chief.
Mooney recently launched Blockchain Gospel, a website dedicated to educating the masses on blockchain technology, capabilities, and products, with Co-Founders and fellow Ames, Iowa entrepreneurs Nate Rippke and Andrew Zalasky.
Blockchain was originally designed for managing crypto-currency transactions, such as Bitcoin. Mooney believes that blockchain now has the potential to change business in ways not seen since the dawn of the internet.
DAKOTA Life Sciences is relying on the data security of blockchain technology and combining it with drug molecular structure monitoring. The company believes such a move is important due to the fraudulent use of antibiotics that hurt people and contribute to global drug resistance to these medications.
“After financial services, it could be argued that healthcare will be the second largest industry to benefit from blockchain technologies, said Mooney. “An example would be that of smart contracts, which allow for traceability and transparency without a third party. This could help reduce the global problem of fake drug sales––a market worth billions of dollars.”
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Christine McGuigan is the Managing Editor of Silicon Prairie News.
