IBM Canada and Canada-based pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim partnered to explore blockchain technology's potential in a clinical trial setting.
Previous studies have shown that clinical trials are frequently inadequate, and clinical trial records are often incomplete or filled with errors , putting patient safety and interpretability of trial data at risk.
Blockchain technology has the potential to improve the clinical trial process and its approach to record keeping, the companies said. IBM and Boehringer Ingelheim will test whether the technology improves data integrity, provenance, transparency and patient empowerment.
Additionally, the two will explore if blockchain technology can improve clinical trial quality and patient safety at a lower cost by automating certain processes.
"Our guiding philosophy is to bring value to patients and the healthcare system through innovation," said Dr. Uli Brödl, vice president of medical and regulatory affairs at Boehringer Ingelheim. "The clinical trial ecosystem is highly complex as it involves different stakeholders, resulting in limited trust, transparency and process inefficiencies without true patient empowerment. Patients are at the heart of everything we do, so we are looking into novel solutions to improve patient safety and empowerment."
IBM and Boehringer Ingelheim announced the partnership at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference in Orlando, Fla.