US-based blockchain consortium dedicated to reducing prescription waste enters global market
Chief Strategy Officer Bedie Moran confirms addition of Lebanese-American University to consortium
MEMPHIS, Tenn., Aug. 27, 2019 – Lebanese-American University School of Pharmacy in Byblos, Lebanon, has become the first blockchain node on foreign soil of what is now an international consortium of prescription repositories, health care organizations and higher education institutions to reclaim medications and track prescription waste – and in doing so eliminate the financial, environmental and accessibility problems it causes. The network, established by Good Shepherd Pharmacy, utilizes RemediChain’s blockchain technology to track this waste across the United States and – now – the globe.
“The consortium is already saving lives by decreasing the amount of high-value medication that is wasted, instead putting it in the hands of patients in need,” said Bedie Moran, chief strategy officer at RemediChain. “But the data is also priceless. We’ve never before been able to track prescription waste across state lines, much less in multiple countries. It presents an opportunity to radically improve health care globally by identifying where – and more importantly why – the medication isn’t reaching the patients who really need it. Once we know that, we can begin to address the problems.”
Under pharmacy school dean Imad Bitar and LAU president Dr. Joseph G Jabbra, the LAU School of Pharmacy is the first university in Lebanon to have the distinction of being a member of a blockchain consortium. And although the global consortium isn’t yet dispensing medication to patients outside the United States, it is beginning a process that will improve access to these life-saving drugs by identifying and hopefully eliminating waste.
“This is incredibly timely and highly appreciable considering the challenges facing underprivileged populations in their limited accessibility and ability to afford expensive life-saving medications,” Bitar said.
“In the United States, medication is often wasted because someone passes away before they take their prescription or their treatment plan changes,” Moran said. “But there are plenty of reasons for waste, which include ripple effects from counterfeit medications, corruption, or even crime in removing the drugs from the supply chain. Any or all of those things are in play globally. If we can identify where the waste is and why, we can work toward stopping it and putting the medication where it belongs – in patients’ hands.”
Moran, a seasoned strategy consultant with nearly 30 years of experience in the health care, financial services and technology industries, joined RemediChain as chief strategy officer in the summer of 2019 as a means to combine his interest in emerging blockchain technologies with the depth of his experience in global strategy. In his role, he’s specifically spearheading the organization’s global reach, with LAU’s addition to the consortium the first partnership on his watch. Moran, though, has big plans to expand the consortium’s reach to other Asian countries and into Africa, Europe and beyond, while co-founders Phil Baker and Ayile’ Arnett concentrate on growing its footprint in the United States.
The international consortium is developing the same way the internet and Facebook did – one university “node” at a time. Consortium members build and maintain 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 in the long run.
Prior to joining RemediChain, Moran was a founding partner of Catena Consulting, a London-based consulting service offering digital health care and blockchain solutions. He has also worked with Vendible Stable Coin, a U.S.-based stable coin project that partners with existing trust institutions and which was enrolled in the New Chip Accelerator Program. Moran also has significant experience in finance, having served as director of business strategy for E*TRADE Financial, as a senior project manager for KPMG Consulting and as a capital markets analyst for the former LF Rothschild.
Since October 2018, the RemediChain platform has received more than $2.2 million 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 in the U.S. – 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. Universities or health care organizations interested in joining the consortium should contact Phil Baker at phil@remedichain.com.
About Lebanese American University School of Pharmacy
The Lebanese American University is a leading nonsectarian private higher education institution based in Lebanon, with a satellite campus in New York City. Its School of Pharmacy, located in Byblos, Lebanon, was officially established in 1996 by the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education in response to the growing health care needs in the country. The LAU School of Pharmacy is nationally and regionally recognized for its progressive pharmacy education, and it offers the only Pharm.D. program outside the United States that is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education. For more information, visit https://pharmacy.lau.edu.lb/.
About RemediChain
RemediChain is a collective of prescription donation programs and colleges of pharmacy dedicated to reducing 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.