TECHNOLOGY AND DATA MANAGEMENT “You say, ‘I need people with this diagnosis,
and age range,’ and that is then put into an NFT and delivered to the customer,” Kaldasch explains. Pharma companies can buy information tailored to their needs and save money that would otherwise be spent on “dummy data”. NFTs could ensure better data integrity for purchasers, too. As Kostick-Quenet’s Science article notes, the blockchain-based technology would allow companies or research groups to verify “the authenticity and provenance of [the] health data” they are buying. Jim Nasr, CEO of blockchain-enabled
software developer Acoer, says NFTs give transparency and accountability to the exchange of personal data, and could improve public trust in the drug industry. Last year, Acoer launched a decentralised software engine called RightsHash, which allows a person’s rights – like their consent to participate in a clinical trial – to be managed and tracked as NFTs. By opting for data that is patient- controlled and traceable, Nasr says, the pharma industry “can essentially engage [its] patients directly and be much more accountable”. Even if drugs companies are reluctant to
embrace the concept of health data NFTs, Kostick-Quenet says it’s only a matter of time before the industry accepts the technology’s growing presence – and patients’ demands to be involved in the exchange of their personal information. As the ethos of decentralisation with greater democratisation and personal control of one’s digital information gains traction, she says, “it’s going to be impossible for pharma and other big industries to ignore that movement”.
Medical NFTs: the challenges While Kaldasch and Nasr guarantee the security of any personal information managed by their companies, NFTs are in their infancy, and concerns about data protection remain. Unlike NFT-monetised artworks, which are visible even to those who don’t own them, data on Aimedis’s marketplace can only be accessed by the provider and whoever has purchased it. Should the NFT be sold to a new owner, the patient who originally provided the health data is able to track where it is being bought and used.
“It’s only a matter of time before the industry accepts the technology’s growing presence. As the ethos of decentralisation with greater democratisation and personal control of one’s digital information gains traction, it’s going to be impossible for pharma and other big industries to ignore that movement”
“The security of that information is only as
good as where the data is stored,” Kostick- Quenet says. NFTs are smart contracts that point to where the information is online, and if this data is stored in an insecure place that’s susceptible to security breaches, blockchain and smart contracts are not going to help. One exception is if the NFT metadata is stored ‘on-chain’ or includes information on all the recorded transactions associated with it. When we think about using smart contracts to help democratise access to, control and exchange of personal health information, Kostick-Quenet says it must all be considered within the context of larger technological solutions that take data integrity and protection into account. “No place [online] right now is completely secure.”
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