Blockchain Pharmaceutical Records Could Curb Scandals

The Chinese government has completed an investigation into a major vaccine manufacturer after allegations of improper practices – the blockchain community is highlighting the potential to curb these issues.

Changsheng Biotechnology was found to have created false data regarding rabies vaccine production. The Chinese blockchain technology community has voiced the ability of public ledgers to create much transparency in the industry. And further, the concept of the immutable ledger can be applied to many other “right to know” situations related to public health.

Supporters used popular Chinese social media platforms to push for blockchain adoption in the pharmaceutical industry. One of the best-known of the country’s crypto investors, Li Xiaolai founder of Bitfund, published an article on his own WeChat channel arguing that vaccine production and distribution is a public endeavor, regardless of the manfacturers being private corporations.

Manufacturing Accountability

The who vaccine supply chain should be public and a distributed ledger could be employed to record the vital data points to maintain accountability and fairness:

“In fact, the token-less blockchain technology has got pretty good prototypes so far. But given people’s misunderstanding of blockchain as something just for speculation, … it’s hard to put those applications into usage whether for government agencies or non-profit organizations.” –  Li Xiaolai

Similar processes are already being implemented for social good in places such as in Venezuela, food chain safety in the UK, refugees worldwide and the UN’s World Food Programme.

Tip Of Iceberg

Another article on Chinese social media summed up the improper business practices of Changsheng Biotechnology over the past decades. However the piece was blocked on all social media due to sensitive information it included after only one day. Authorities said it was to prevent the possibility of widespread public panic.

Blockchain technology countered the event as well. The article was written into a transaction on the Ethereum public blockchain by anonymous coders. This creates a permanent, public version of the information. News of blockchain working for social good will certainly help in adoption across all industries.

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