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.