The Pistoia Alliance, a nonprofit alliance focused on driving research and development efforts in the life sciences industry, launched the next phase of its blockchain project Feb. 6.
Pharmaceutical giants AstraZeneca, GSK, Novartis and Pfizer incorporated The Pistoia Alliance in 2009 as a collaborative effort to lower barriers to innovation in life sciences R&D. Today, the alliance hosts more than 100 member companies that collaborate on a range of projects.
The alliance's blockchain project aims to bring together life sciences companies to workshop potential R&D use cases that leverage blockchain to improve data identity, data integrity and data sharing.
Blockchain is a permanent and distributed ledger of online transactions or exchanges. Unlike a traditional database that is centrally located and maintained by one party, a blockchain record is shared among a network of users.
One of the project's main goals is to address misunderstandings about the technology. In 2018, the alliance conducted a survey of its members that found the biggest barriers to blockchain adoption were lack of skilled personnel (55 percent) and the technology being too difficult to understand (16 percent).
As part of the next phase of its blockchain project, The Pistoia Alliance plans to host webinars and workshops to educate those interested in the technology.
"Unfortunately, people's perceptions have led to some organizations completely avoiding blockchain technology, and many others unsure of how it can benefit them," Jake Dreier, blockchain project manager and consultant for The Pistoia Alliance, said in a news release. "This is why The Pistoia Alliance is supporting a collaborative effort to help the industry get the most out of the technology."