Nonprofit pharmacy, university establish blockchain consortium to reclaim medicines and track prescription waste
Lipscomb University signs on as founding member; other universities and health care organizations encouraged to join as nodes in the network
MEMPHIS, Tenn., May 23, 2019 – Good Shepherd Pharmacy and Lipscomb University, through its College of Pharmacy, today announced the formation of a nationwide consortium of prescription repositories, health care organizations and higher education institutions to reclaim medications and track prescription waste.
“The RemediChain consortium is starting a nationwide movement to solve the financial and environmental problems of prescription waste while serving the most vulnerable patients,” said Phil Baker, PharmD, CEO of Good Shepherd Pharmacy. “Our country needs a national repository for donated medication, and we intend to build it. Universities and prescription donation programs in multiple states are partnering with us in this crusade. Lipscomb University has supported our work from day one. We’re honored to officially recognize Lipscomb as the founding university node in our network.”
The network is being built on RemediChain’s blockchain technology. Consortium members serve as “nodes” in the network, building and maintaining servers to collect and track data on donated medications in their local areas. Each member organization pays an annual fee to support the consortium’s network and to access the data for research and other educational pursuits, which will allow them to generate further insights on how this work can benefit patients.
“This network has enormous potential to benefit patients across the country most in need, and our participation reinforces the commitment to our student pharmacists to model innovative pharmacy practice,” said Roger Davis, PharmD, vice provost of health affairs at Lipscomb University. “This network is developing the same way the Internet and Facebook originally did – one university node at a time. We’re thrilled to be one of the founding members of what I believe will be a life-changing effort for thousands of people. I hope our peer institutions will join us in this worthy endeavor.
Interim dean of the College of Pharmacy, Tom Campbell, PharmD, believes strongly in this concept from a partner/administration perspective for the college and also from a personal perspective. Dr. Campbell’s wife, Susan, recently lost her battle with cancer, and he was able to provide help to others by donating her unused cancer medication to Good Shepherd.
Baker has big plans for the network. Since October 2018, the RemediChain platform has received more than $800,000 worth of donated, high-value oral chemotherapy medication, some of which has already been verified and dispensed to patients with demonstrated financial need. Oncology teams in participating states – Tennessee, Georgia, Texas and Iowa – can request specific medications from that donated pool to give to patients who would not otherwise be able to afford their prescriptions. For this network to grow farther and to serve more patients, it needs more nodes.
“We already have local data,” Baker said. “But comparing our data to other states’ data is where the true value lies. It allows us to identify trends and, once the consortium grows large enough, to increase our capacity.”
The RemediChain consortium has verbal commitments from four universities, but Lipscomb University represents the longest standing active collaborator and was the first to make the partnership official.
“Ultimately, this consortium is the backbone of what we envision our health care future to be,” Baker said. “Working together, we can resolve some of our most basic problems – beginning with the thousands of Americans who go without necessary medication because they cannot afford it. The more partners we have in our network, the more lives we’ll be able to save.
About Lipscomb University’s College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences
Lipscomb University’s College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences is the home of Middle Tennessee’s first College of Pharmacy. The college offers undergraduate programs in nursing, kinesiology and nutrition; graduate programs in exercise and nutrition science and health care informatics; and a Doctorate of Pharmacy degree. This fall, the college launched its new School of Physician Assistant Studies that offers a Master of Science in Physician Assistant Studies and an RN-to-BSN program in its School of Nursing. For more information, visit https://www.lipscomb.edu/cphs.
About RemediChain
RemediChain is a collective of prescription donation programs and colleges of pharmacy dedicated to tracking prescription drug waste and resolving the financial and environmental problems associated with it. RemediChain members post donated prescriptions to a decentralized ledger to create a virtual inventory of donated prescriptions across the country. The RemediChain ledger matches medication donations with vulnerable patients while ensuring the highest levels of traceability. The virtual inventory is made available to a national network of facilities dedicated to serving vulnerable patients. RemediChain is a member of Tokenize Tennessee, a trade organization focused on realizing the full potential of emerging technologies to drive a new era in the state. For more information, visit https://www.remedichain.com.
About Good Shepherd Pharmacy
Good Shepherd is a nonprofit pharmacy designed to meet the needs of people who can’t afford their medications. The GoodShepRx membership program provides access to at-cost or donated medication to over 1,000 vulnerable patients with chronic conditions. In 2017, Good Shepherd Pharmacy gained national recognition for the creation of a prescription repository which accepts prescription donations from any individual in the United States. In 2018 the team launched RemediChain, a blockchain platform that connects people who wish to donate unopened chemotherapy drugs to those who would not otherwise be able to afford their life-saving medication.
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