VeChain will develop a drug tracking platform for the pharmaceutical giant Bayer

One of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world is working with VeChain to develop a new blockchain-based traceability platform.Bayer China revealed in an interview last week that it has chosen VeChain as its investor technology for a new blockchain-based solution that will allow the company - a Bayer subsidiary - to monitor clinical drugs along the supply chain.

The CSecure project

Known as "CSecure", the system loads a batch number for a specific drug on the blockchain. Each drug can then be monitored as it moves through the supply chain using timestamps and user identification information at different waypoints.

Thanks to the type of blockchain infrastructure, the data cannot be changed by an unauthorized third party. VeChain obtained the right to work with Bayer China thanks to a competition in 2019, after proposing the company to consider implementing a blockchain-based supply chain solution.

Subsequently, the proposal materialized with CSecure. The system is based on ToolChain, a proprietary blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) system that allows VeChain to design and build complete technology solutions for distributed accounting based on a customer's specific needs.

When applied to a supply chain, the blockchain can guarantee more accurate demand monitoring, as well as more reliable forecasts. This would ensure a higher level of service with significantly lower quantities of stocks and greatly limiting the risk of stock-outs. 

More and more companies are relying on the blockchain project

Bayer China is the latest in a series of high-profile partnerships for the blockchain project. Last June, the Chinese arm of the supermarket chain Walmart and the accounting firm Big Four PwC collaborated with VeChain to work on a new food tracking solution for China.

However, VeChain isn't letting much of the latter deal out. A company spokesman has told the media that the company is bound by a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and cannot disclose further information on how CSecure would actually work behind the scenes.

In a statement, CEO and co-founder Sunny Lu said he was grateful that Bayer put VeChain to the test in testing the CSecure product design. "We have experienced the rigidity of the medical sector by working with Bayer China," he said.

"I feel Bayer's professionalism and excellent work ethic towards medicine and healthcare causes as a whole." Last year, the president of Uganda supported a similar MediConnect monitoring project that was to use blockchain technology to combat the problem of counterfeit medicines.