The South Korean biotech giant, Macrogen, is currently developing an genetic data store-system based on blockchain technology, in order to secure and maintain confidentiality of company’s patients information.
Macrogen, which is a provider of DNA sequence services in Seoul, revealed its commercial partnership with the big data firm Bigster , with the purpose of developing a blockchain project for the registration of genomic information, estimated to be fully operational for June 2019.
In the field of medicine, genetics is the field of study that explore and diagnose diseases in patients’ genome, genetic scientists gather information that can be used by pharmaceutical companies and laboratories to create treatments and medicines.
However, despite the range of applications of DNA in modern medicine, it is not safe to share genetic information to the public, as it entails risks to the privacy and health of patients.
According to Yang Kap-seok, CEO of Macrogen: Despite its wide utility, gene data has been difficult to move around due to privacy protection issues and technological barriers. We hope that our upcoming blockchain-based platform will allow health care genet[ic] and medical big data to be circulated freely.”
This platform will function as a blockchain database, to which only invited parties would have access, entities like pharmaceutical companies, research institutes, hospitals and clinics, as well as genetics analysis start-ups.
This is not the first time that a similar project has been developed in the decentralized industry. In this regard, the Indian authority Andhra Pradesh, signed an agreement on March 28, which proposed the creation of a blockchain database to record DNA information. The platform would serve to store DNA data of more than 50 million people in the country
by Samuel Larreal
