A Permissioned Blockchain-based System for Collaborative Drug Discovery

Abstract

Research and development of novel molecular compounds in the pharmaceutical industry can be highly costly. Lack of confidentiality can prevent a product from being patented or commercialized. As an effect, cross-organizational collaboration is virtually non-existent. In this paper, we introduce a blockchain-based solution to the collaborative drug discovery problem so that participants can maintain full ownership of the asset and upload partial information about molecules without revealing the molecule itself. A prototype is also implemented using the blockchain technology Hyperledger Fabric and analyzed from security and performance perspectives. The prototype provides a set of functionalities that makes sure that ownership is maintained, integrity is protected, and critical information remains confidential. From a performance perspective, it provides a good throughput and latency in the order of milliseconds. However, further improvements could be done to the scalability of the system.