Japan's SUSMED: World's First Drug Approval Based on Blockchain Clinical Trials
- —The approved drug is Viatris's Uekikus for narcolepsy and daytime sleepiness in apnea
- —The SUSMED SDS system verifies patient data against clinic records via blockchain
- —The technology passed a regulatory sandbox and received a response from Japan's Health Ministry in December 2020
- —Trials with the system started in November 2022, and in January 2023 for another disease
Why it matters: The case shows that blockchain data verification can pass regulatory approval in pharma and could speed up and reduce the cost of drug development.
Source: CoinDesk Japan