How Blockchain Can Secure CAR-T Supply Chains

I recently attended two R&D engagement sessions that covered a healthcare company’s recent endeavor with a CAR-T cancer treatment. In both sessions, I learned a lot about CAR-T. I learned that the CAR-T treatment that organization is developing will treat multiple myeloma; a cancer that is ranked as the 14th most common cancer type and is growing at a rate over 100% YOY, with annual fatalities above 90%.

I also learned that there are CAR-T treatments that are already approved by the FDA for the treatment of leukemia and lymphoma, and that pharmaceutical companies are also developing CAR-T treatments for multiple myeloma. Market intelligence promises that CAR-T, for various cancer types, is a worthy area for R&D investment, with opportunity for organizations to cause the impact and fatality rates mentioned above to decline. Listening to the speakers from the CAR-T program teams, my mind was racing with the possibilities that this new approach to treating cancer would have on both the oncology sector and healthcare in general.

I found myself wondering if custom developed treatments will become the future for curing the most devasting diseases present both today and in the future. In the midst of this internal chatter, another topic was front and center in both presentations: the vein to vein supply chain. As we venture into the world of custom treatments, especially when the treatment is developed using a patient’s blood and requires a physician to take and return a sample of the patient’s blood and their cells, the need for security, transparency, and control within our supply chain will only become more critical. As I heard the phrase ‘vein to vein supply chain’ over and over, especially in context of keeping the supply chain secure, my mind was screaming blockchain!

Blockchain’s fundamental characteristics seem like the most ideal model for securing the necessary level of control and certainty required with a vein to vein supply chain.

To start, a blockchain is fundamentally a ledger of immutable transactions; therefore, any movement within the supply chain cannot be altered. If an error is made, a new block or transaction must be recorded. I don’t know about you, but if I’m the patient, I would want to know the exact status of my treatment, and what happened to my blood on its way from and back to my body.

Another valuable characteristic of a blockchain for CAR-T treatment would be the ability to encrypt data; specifically, patient data. This would be an especially critical capability for expansion of the treatment into the EU to ensure compliance with GDPR requirements.

Blockchain is built to allow for multisource governance, since it limits, if not completely restricts, corruption. I don’t think there can be any doubt at this point that blockchain has the valuable characteristics needed to maintain the credibility of the CAR-T supply chain.

There are, however, constraints and requirements of blockchain that would make implementing the technology difficult. First of all, blockchain is an emerging technology and therefore there is not enough expertise available to build low cost, custom solutions or the off-the-shelf options that wouldn’t require immense amounts of expensive customization.

Transparency within the supply chain is an important feature, but getting each supplier touchpoint acclimated, trained, and functionally working within the blockchain would require an incredible investment in change management and training. There is also a cost component to running a blockchain because of the extremely high level of energy used for computing to create, or mine, the blocks and validate transactions.

So even a blockchain enthusiast like myself has to admit that building a blockchain might not be as easy to execute as one might hope. But what if we could build the same characteristics just mentioned into a system that runs on technology that isn’t blockchain; something that is more commonly used and easy to configure? Now that sounds much more reasonable. This would allow companies to establish the efficacy required for a controlled and transparent supply chain, while simultaneously delivering peace of mind to patients all over the world.