Precision medicine and biotechnology company Macrogen was granted a patent Sept. 17 for blockchain-based data-sharing technology.
Macrogen jointly filed for the U.S. patent with Psomagen, which plans to distribute the technology to the direct-to-consumer market.
The platform combines a token system with a blockchain network to facilitate data sharing and transactions. The goal is to give patients and consumers more control over their data.
Patients who use the blockchain will be rewarded with tokens for sharing their data. Hospitals, health systems and companies can purchase patients' data through the platform. The blockchain not only rewards patients for the initial data-sharing processes but also for each data transaction after.
“The United States is the fastest-growing market in the world for the concept of individual health sovereignty and DTC genetic testing,” said Ryan Kim, CEO of Psomagen. “We expect these market characteristics to help Psomagen’s healthcare big data distribution platform take off quickly, allowing the company to build high-quality healthcare big data in a short time."