Samsung’s new blockchain pilots are all about transparently tracking medicine

Samsung SDS will conduct a series of pilot projects in November to test blockchain-powered medicine distribution management. The goal of these tests is to guarantee transparency in the process of tracking pharmaceutical drugs.

According to Yankup, the IT branch of Samsung Group announced the pilot programs, named “Disruptive innovation technology for tracking drug distribution history,” at the BioPharma Cold Chain Logistics session in Seoul, South Korea.

Officials from Samsung SDS also said that they’ve received “several” participation applications for the pilots from unnamed pharmaceutical firms, distributors, and even medical institutions in South Korea.

Lee Eun-young, senior researcher at Samsung SDS, stated that the pilots will last between three and six months, commenting:

"Through the drug distribution history management service, it is possible to comply with regulations and innovate business by implementing product-specific history management, real-time distribution history tracking, and automatic reporting functions."

During the announcement, Samsung’s IT branch said that the pilots would consist of an IoT-linked temperature history tracking service, which will be implemented along with automatic history management for incoming and outgoing goods. This has been chosen “to minimize handwritten input,” verify returns, and collections with the support of a secure database.

If successful, these pilots will be commercialized after passing domestic and foreign regulatory compliance in June of next year. Lee told local media:

“The value of blockchain in the healthcare industry is expected to grow from $176.80 million in 2018 to $5.61 billion in 2025, and by 2025, 55% of healthcare solutions are expected to adopt blockchain for commercial purposes."

Daegu, the fourth-largest city in South Korea, recently announced its plans to allocate over $6 million towards blockchain and artificial intelligence education.