ARMONK, N.Y., Jan.
11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM Watson Health (NYSE: IBM) has
signed a research initiative with the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) aimed at defining a secure, efficient and
scalable exchange of health data using blockchain technology. IBM
and the FDA will explore the exchange of owner mediated data from
several sources, such as Electronic Medical Records, clinical
trials, genomic data, and health data from mobile devices,
wearables and the "Internet of Things." The initial focus will be
on oncology-related data.
Transformative healthcare solutions are possible when healthcare
researchers and providers have access to a 360-degree view of
patient data. Today, patients have little access to their health
data and cannot easily share with researchers or
providers. Giving patients the opportunity to share their data
securely, for research purposes or across their healthcare
providers, creates opportunities for major advancements in
healthcare. Blockchain technology, which enables organizations to
work together with more trust, is designed to help make this a
reality.
By keeping an audit trail of all transactions on an unalterable
distributed ledger, blockchain technology establishes
accountability and transparency in the data exchange
process. In the past, large scale sharing of health data
has been limited by concerns of data security and breaches of
patient privacy during the data exchange process.
A recent
IBM Institute for Business Value paper 'Healthcare
rallies for blockchains1', based on a survey of
about 200 healthcare executives, found that more than seven in ten
industry leaders anticipate the highest benefits of blockchain in
healthcare to accrue to managing clinical trial records, regulatory
compliance and medical/health records.
IBM and the FDA will explore how a blockchain framework
can potentially provide benefits to public health by
supporting important use cases for information exchange across a
wide variety of data types, including clinical trials and "real
world" evidence data. New insights combining data across the
healthcare ecosystem can potentially lead to new biomedical
discoveries. Patient data from wearables and connected devices
for example, can help doctors and caregivers better manage
population health.
The collaboration will also address new ways to
leverage the large volumes of diverse data in today's biomedical
and healthcare industries. A secure owner-mediated data sharing
ecosystem could potentially hold the promise of new
discoveries and improved public health.
IBM brings extensive expertise in blockchain technology, for
example, IBM is founding member and key contributor to the Linux
Foundation's Hyperledger project.
As the promise of blockchain in healthcare becomes increasingly
evident, IBM will work to define and build the technological
solution for a scalable and decentralized data sharing
ecosystem.
"The healthcare industry is undergoing significant changes due
to the vast amounts of disparate data being generated. Blockchain
technology provides a highly secure, decentralized framework
for data sharing that will accelerate innovation throughout the
industry," said Shahram Ebadollahi, Vice President for Innovations
and Chief Science Officer, IBM Watson Health.
The initiative with the FDA is a two-year agreement. IBM Watson
Health and the FDA plan to share initial research findings in
2017.
About IBM Watson Health
Watson is the first commercially available
cognitive computing capability representing a new era in computing.
The system, delivered through the cloud, analyzes high volumes of
data, understands complex questions posed in natural language, and
proposes evidence-based answers. Watson continuously learns, gaining in value
and knowledge over time, from previous interactions. In
April 2015, the company launched IBM
Watson Health and the Watson Health Cloud platform. IBM Watson
Health is helping to improve the ability of doctors, researchers
and insurers to innovate by surfacing insights from the massive
amount of personal health data being created and shared daily. For
more information on IBM Watson, visit: ibm.com/watson. For more
information on IBM Watson Health, visit: ibm.com/watsonhealth.
About IBM Blockchain
IBM is rapidly expanding its
blockchain capabilities and actively working with companies to
understand what it takes to make blockchain ready for business.
Financial services, supply chains, IoT, risk management, digital
rights management and healthcare are some of the areas that
are poised for dramatic change using blockchain networks. For more
information about IBM Blockchain, visit www.ibm.com/blockchain.
Jessica Emond
External Relations
Jessica.emond@ibm.com
202-257-1808
1 Healthcare rallies for blockchains
https://www-01.ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?htmlfid=GBE03790USEN&
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SOURCE IBM Watson Health