Cancer Medicine Will be Distributed to the Underprivileged Section through Blockchain Technology

Cancer! A disease that’s terror for all who are suffering and the families who have seen the suffering of their loved ones. With time and technology, the cancer drugs are introduced to cut down the effects of the disease and ensure a complete recovery. As per reports, the access to these expensive cancer drugs was a thing of concern. The disease does not spread its killing arms discriminating the rich and the poor. While there are ample cases where patients have recovered, there are cases that state that people are not treated with the right medication due to affordability. In such a situation, the two organizations FedEx Institute and Good Shepherd Pharmacy have come up together to develop a blockchain platform to start a new initiative for these cancer patients. The platform is called REMEDI. The term technically means REclaiming MEDIcine. Reportedly, this platform will distribute cancer medicines to the disadvantaged cancer patients who are unable to get the medicines due to financial crunch.

How will this initiative continue in the long run

Reports say that many of the cancer patients during their treatment pass away. The medicines that are brought for the patients by the patient’s family are often left unused as the patient passes away before the end of course. Sources say many families voluntarily wish to share those medicines to those people who are in need and would be happy if those medicines come in use for another patient. This blockchain platform will be this intermediate place through which the redistribution will take place. The FedEx Institute of Technology along with a Memphis based pharmaceutical agency named Good Shepherd Pharmacy, will assure quick access to vital cancer medications.

Good Shepherd Pharmacy with its base in Memphis is a nonprofit membership pharmacy. It mainly works in aiding the residents of Tennessee. The residents who are not insured can get their drugs from this Pharmacy. The people who are members of the association needs to pay a monthly fee. They get their prescription drugs at a cost without any markup charged over it. The membership fees are taken for a cause. From each membership, a portion of the money goes for an individual who belongs to a low-income group.

The contribution of blockchain technology in the pharmaceutical industry

Reports say that this is not the first initiative where the blockchain technology is used in the pharmaceutical sector. It has aided the healthcare system before. Earlier, in several reports, it has been found out that the technology is evolving further to give a new structure to the healthcare industry. A few months back, another collaboration through this technology was reported. A startup named Healthureum used this same technology to bridge the gap between healthcare institutes and consumers. As per records, this technology has proven its efficiency in saving lives and thus more partnerships were welcomed. The latest partnership is speculated to bring a very positive change in the health sector by providing aids to the patients who are on their journey to battle the deadly cancer. Blockchain has been taking up other projects of the same industry which was initiated by Microsoft. They have a new tracking system imbibed where there is a complete visibility to the wholesale supply chain. This system is allowing end to end tracing solutions where a user can trace every single product right from the start to end.

Good Shepherd Pharmacy

Phil Baker, the CEO of Good Shepherd Pharmacy says that there is a huge wastage of medicines every year. This is the reason behind the platform getting introduced. As per records, in Tennessee, every year over $10 million prescription medicines are simply not used and are thrown away randomly. They wanted to crack this situation and help people who are in need of medications. The CEO thinks that this REMEDI platform will be the ideal solution to the problem of drug availability.

FedEx Institute of Technology

We all know about FedEx being as one of the global agents. The original name was Federal Express. This name was founded in 1973 and until 2000, it was known as Federal Express. The headquarters of the company is in Memphis, Tennessee. The shipping giant who has been the pioneer of package tracking during shipment is involved in this initiative. This year, in February the company shook hands with Blockchain being a Transport Alliance. This was done to use the advanced blockchain technology and bring serious improvements in the area of logistics management.

The FedEx Institute of Technology was founded in 2003. The institution largely focuses on research and technological advancements. Under the University of Memphis, this organization is steadfast towards innovation and building research infrastructure. Being a support for emerging technologies this institute functions as a catalyst. The sectors that are worked upon are interdisciplinary research and innovation. The research purposes are sponsored by the FedEx shipping agent.

The Hacknight in Memphis

As per reports, the FedEx Institute has planned for “Hacknight”. This is going to be an event that will announce the expansion of the workforce area in Memphis. Blockchain 901 is the co-planner of this event that will take place on July 10. At this event, Blockchain enthusiasts and professionals will come together to connect and discuss the challenges and opportunities of the proposed plan. The success of this event can be speculated for it aims for resource development program. Cody Behles, the assistant director of FedEx Institute’s Innovation and Research Support said that the university will be a great source of resource generation. The university has the potential to offer an environment that supports innovation. This will allow experiments and exploration of the latest opportunities and invite fresh ideas. Critics of the project say that choosing Memphis as the location would not be the right decision. On this note of conflict, the assistant director says that choosing the market of San Francisco might not be a very good business decision. Memphis is chosen because gradually it’s becoming the hub of startups and so the obvious choice is now Memphis which is a collaborative decision. Both the parties involved in the partnership believe, this could be the best possible place, to begin with.