Walmart to participate in another pharmaceutical supply chain pilot

Retail giant Walmart has announced it is taking part in a second pharmaceutical blockchain trial to track supply chains alongside IBM, KPMG, and Merck. Just last week, the company shared it would be joining MediLedger blockchain consortium to track the prominence of meds.

Following the U.S. Drug Supply Chain Security Act, the agency will need a digital system to trace all prescription drugs and vaccines in the U.S. by 2023. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has subsequently chosen the companies to test a blockchain solution.

“Blockchain could provide an important new approach to further improving trust in the biopharmaceutical supply chain,” said Mark Treshock, IBM Global Solutions Leader for Blockchain in Healthcare & Life Sciences. “We believe this is an ideal use for the technology because it can not only provide an audit trail that tracks drugs within the supply chain; it can track who has shared data and with whom, without revealing the data itself. Blockchain has the potential to transform how pharmaceutical data is controlled, managed, shared and acted upon throughout the lifetime history of a drug.”

Walmart and IBM have already got experience in working on blockchain solutions together as the retailer participates in IBM's Food Trust network.