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Introducing the PharmaLedger Association: Building a Digital Trust Ecosystem for Healthcare

The PharmaLedger Association (PLA) provides healthcare-related organizations the ability to come together in a trusted network to develop digital healthcare solutions. As a not-for-profit, membership-based, open-source, and technology-independent organization, PLA pursues solutions (in blockchain as well as other technologies) that bring mutual benefit to everyone involved in healthcare.

How Did We Get Here? From the PharmaLedger Project to the PharmaLedger Association

The original project supported the research and development of blockchain-enabled healthcare solutions, and one of its key goals was to create an adoption strategy, which resulted in PLA.

Between August 2022 and February 2023, PLA onboarded its 20 founding members. On March 1, 2023, PLA held its first Annual General Meeting in Lucerne, Switzerland, where members elected the Board of Directors, approved the three-year strategic plan and operating budget, and confirmed Daniel Fritz as Executive Director.

PLA inherited all use cases of the PharmaLedger project, from the domains of supply chain, health data and clinical trials. The Association leverages a similar organizational and governance structure to ensure the healthcare industry and its stakeholders are the ones driving the priorities and investments.

The transferred use cases are now part of PLA‘s projects and products portfolio and have been grouped in three main product lines:

  • Product Trust: The PharmaLedger Association’s Product Trust platform and portfolio enables the secure sharing of pharmaceutical and medical product information. Use cases: Product Information (ePI) and Detecting Falsified Medicines (DFM).

  • Decentralized Trials: aims to transform the clinical trials industry by leveraging cutting-edge technology to streamline and digitalize the trials process using Verifiable Credentials, Decentralized Identifiers (DID), and product digital twins. Use cases: eConsent, eEnrollment/eRecruitment, and IoT Medical Devices & Personalized Medicines.

  • Supply Chain Traceability: a cutting-edge initiative that seeks to increase visibility and resilience in the pharmaceutical supply chain. Use cases: Finished Goods Traceability and Clinical Supply Chain Traceability.

First Annual General Meeting and Confirmation of Board of Directors

On March 1, 2023, the PharmaLedger Association held its first Annual General Meeting in Lucerne, Switzerland, to review and approve a 3-year strategic plan, near-term planning, and resourcing. At the meeting, PLA General Assembly members also confirmed the first Board of Directors appointments, representing a major milestone in delivering on the association’s core value of Ecosystem Leadership.

What Does PLA Bring to the Table?

Central to PLA’s purpose is enabling a Digital Trust Ecosystem in Healthcare (DTE-H). A DTE-H connects, protects, empowers, builds, and sustains the modern digital healthcare experience for all stakeholders.

PLA is needed because it takes an ecosystem of diverse voices to sustain a neutral, trusted, shared infrastructure for secure data exchange in healthcare. PLA aims to create that infrastructure to solve problems using a “whole ecosystem” approach, developing and launching solutions that are mutually beneficial for all stakeholders. A sample of real-world business challenges PLA could take on include:

Becoming a Member of PLA

Any organization or company with a connection to the healthcare industry can become a member of PLA, including manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, pharmacy chains, clinics, hospitals, technology or other specialized service providers, healthcare providers, NGOs, and patient organizations, among others. 

Members will have the opportunity to be an active part of the creation of the modern healthcare experience, and of a global utility network that supports collaboration for true digital transformation. Membership allows you to:

  • Accelerate digital innovation and learning in your organization
  • Participate in the creation of a common, secure and stakeholder-managed infrastructure for digital healthcare
  • Receive qualified and fully tested healthcare solutions
  • Pool resources and risk with like-minded partners to realize increased benefits
  • Add your voice and expertise to digital healthcare development
  • Benefit from collaborating with small and large organizations
  • Share ideas of good solutions and let PLA fund development
  • Promote your existing solutions within the PLA network
  • Contribute with open-source development and find healthcare partners to work on innovative projects
  • Make decisions on the prioritization of our solution pipeline
  • Operate a node on the PLA network to strengthen trust and resiliency in healthcare