'Blockchain may ensure safety of clinical trial data'

Researchers, including one of Indian origin, have developed a novel system based on blockchain technology for ensuring the integrity of clinical trials data. The system, described in the journal Nature Communications, creates an immutable audit trail that makes it easy to spot any tampering with results -- such as making the treatment look more effective or diminishing side effects. "Everyone is talking about how blockchain is going to revolutionise many of the data challenges in medicine, and here is one use that finally might make sense," said Atul Butte, a professor at the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) in the US. "We think it could someday be useful for pharma companies running clinical trials," Butte said. Blockchain technology utilises an old computer science technique known as hashing, which creates a unique digital signature for each so-called block of data. The hashes accumulate sequentially, as new data is entered or changed, with each block depending on the ..

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