FDA Taps Four Firms for Drug Supply Chain Tracking Initiative

The Food and Drug Administration has chosen IBM, Merck, KPMG and Walmart for an initiative that seeks to address standards in the validation and tracking of vaccines and prescription medicines in the U.S.

They will help FDA and drug suppliers create an electronic platform that will trace and identify prescription drugs in support of the U.S. Drug Supply Chain Security Act, IBM said Thursday.

The planned system will utilize a shared blockchain network to enable real-time monitoring and confirm the integrity of medicines in the supply chain.

“Blockchain has the potential to transform how pharmaceutical data is controlled, managed, shared and acted upon throughout the lifetime history of a drug,” said Mark Treshock, global solutions leader for blockchain in healthcare and life sciences at IBM.

FDA will conclude a pilot run of the system in the fourth quarter of 2019 and is expected to release the results through a program report. The companies will then assess the results to determine the next phase of the project.