Boehringer Ingelheim and IBM Collaborate to Pilot Blockchain Technology in Clinical Trials

February 11–15, the 2019 HIMSS Global Conference & Exhibition (hereinafter referred to as HIMSS19) was held in Orlando, Florida, USA. As one of the most influential large-scale exhibitions in the healthcare information technology industry worldwide, it attracted 45,000 healthcare IT professionals, clinicians, healthcare administrators, government policymakers, and corporate representatives from more than 90 countries around the globe.

Blockchain technology was a major theme at the exhibition, with multiple healthcare companies announcing significant developments to explore the potential of blockchain in the medical field, aiming to improve healthcare processes, enhance the quality of medical services, and reduce healthcare costs.

Boehringer Ingelheim, headquartered in Canada, and IBM Canada announced at the HIMSS19 conference that they would collaborate to adopt blockchain record-keeping technology in a pilot clinical trial project. This move marks the first application of blockchain technology in clinical trials in Canada.

Boehringer Ingelheim stated that, based on the findings of regulatory authorities, procedures for ensuring the quality of clinical trials were still inadequate, with clinical trial records frequently containing errors or being incomplete, thereby compromising patient safety and the interpretability of the trials.

The use of blockchain technology in clinical trials can help healthcare professionals optimize trial processes and improve the quality of clinical trial records and their retention. The collaboration between Boehringer Ingelheim and IBM Canada aims to test whether blockchain technology applied in clinical trials can achieve data integrity, traceability, transparency, patient-controlled authorization, and automation of clinical trial processes within a decentralized framework, thereby helping the healthcare system enhance trial quality and patient safety at lower costs.

“Our vision is to deliver value to patients and healthcare systems through innovation,” said Dr. Uli Brödl, Vice President of Medical and Regulatory Affairs at Boehringer Ingelheim. “The clinical trial ecosystem is highly complex, as it involves diverse stakeholders; without genuine patient empowerment, this can lead to diminished trust in the healthcare system, lack of transparency, and inefficiencies in processes. We are exploring new solutions to enhance patient safety and engagement.”

IBM Canada stated that it has introduced its core blockchain technology into this collaboration, providing opportunities for secure, patient-consented health data exchange and patient engagement. The company added that IBM’s technology helps ensure transparency throughout complex clinical trials, thereby enhancing trust between patients and healthcare providers.

“We have been using blockchain technology in other industries,” said Claude Guay, General Manager of Services at IBM Canada. “Now, we are exploring how to leverage this technology to provide Canadian patients with the same level of security and trust in their personal health information.”

It is understood that a pilot clinical trial, based on a cooperation agreement, will commence within the next few weeks and conclude within the year. In this pilot trial, the two companies will simultaneously employ blockchain technology and traditional methods to compare and evaluate the effectiveness of applying blockchain technology in clinical trials.

Regarding the application prospects of blockchain technology in clinical trials, experts abroad have stated that ensuring compliance with clinical trial regulations will be the key factor for pharmaceutical companies to adopt blockchain technology. Ledger systems that are easy to share, secure, and tamper-resistant can play a significant role in improving data accuracy, and these advantages will hold great appeal for the pharmaceutical industry.

(Compiled by Cheng Xiaoqin)