One year ago today, ETHNews wrote[1] about MediLedger, a blockchain platform developed by pharmaceutical companies Pfizer[2] and Genentech[3]. At that time, we reported that the MediLedger platform would be powered by the Ethereum-based Quorum blockchain and was intended to prevent counterfeit medicine from entering pharmaceutical supply chains.
ETHNews was curious about the progress of the MediLedger pilot. We reached out to Marc Watrous, senior vice president of managed care and customer operations at Genentech, to see if some of the major problems facing MediLedger, such as scaling, have been solved and if it's still encouraged by the promise of blockchain technology.
ETHNews: Has MediLedger launched yet? Has blockchain technology lived up to the hype?
Marc Watrous: In 2017, the working group was successful in developing a proof of concept for the ownership transfer of serial numbers and is now testing a solution for the verification of saleable returns. During testing, the system was able to transfer ownership of serial numbers between entities (such as a manufacturer and a wholesaler) while enforcing rules via a smart contract and fully encrypting all transaction information posted to the blockchain to ensure that no confidential information was shared. In other words, we now have a proof of concept system that can enable the swift validation of a medicine's provenance and serial number authenticity. We're encouraged by the results to date.
ETHNews: Has the platform been able to be scaled to suit the needs of pharma giants?
Marc Watrous: We're now focused on scaling up the project from proof of concept into actual testing and developing a robust governance model that industry participants must follow. We continue to explore and test this system to ensure that it
