Mumbai-based blockchain firm Qila.io is gearing up to help introduce transparency in the field of clinical research using blockchain technology. Earlier this week, the company partnered with clinical research firm Mascot Spincontrol, which is also headquartered in India’s financial capital. The project aims to protect the integrity of medical research work using secure and tamper-proof data storage, using the blockchain, while boosting stakeholders’ confidence in the security of the information provided by research firm. The underlying technology for Web3 services has shown promise in revamping several industrial sectors over the coming years.

Blockchain technology, also known as distributed ledger technology, distributes and stores data in multiple nodes. This prevents the concentration of data in one spot, making it difficult for hackers or other malicious agents to manipulate the stored information.

In addition, data saved on the blockchain is immutable and cannot be altered which brings authenticity and transparency to each record. The clinical research firm has performed trials and tests of products from brands like L’Oréal, Himalaya Wellness, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), Mamaearth, Dabur, St. Botanica, Firstcry, Joy, Emami, Sugar, Nykaa.com, Glenmark, Sun Pharma, Marico, Plum, and Dot and Key.

“Blockchain deployment will improve the transparency and integrity of clinical trial results. The clinical data results would be irreversible and hence would build great faith in brands’ promise! We are proud to be one of the first companies in our industry to embrace this technology,” Mohit Lalvani, Managing Director and Founder of Spincontrol Mascot said in a prepared statement.

Along with making the research storage secure and transparent, blockchain technology has other use cases as well, linked to the healthcare sector. These include bringing transparency to supply-chain management, securing the sharing of data, and providing accurate drug authentication.

This is not the first time in India that blockchain technology is being integrated with the healthcare sector. Back in 2022, the government of Maharashtra teamed-up with the Algorand blockchain and MAPay, which is a healthcare technology firm, to store health data as NFTs.

A study by research firm Roots Analysis suggests that the global use of blockchain technology in the healthcare market is projected to grow from $58 million (roughly Rs. 484 crore) in 2023 to $641 million (roughly Rs. 5,353 crore) by 2035, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22 percent during the forecast period 2023-2035. Precedence, another market research firm, estimates that the market size of blockchain in healthcare could swell to $14.25 billion (roughly Rs. 1,19,005 crore) by the year 2032.

The partnership between Mascot Spincontrol and Qila.io also opens the door to exploring additional joint initiatives, which includes the implementation of blockchain tokenisation solutions for clinical research data sharing. The collaboration will further entail pilot programmes to demonstrate the effectiveness of blockchain technology in improving data integrity and transparency.

“By combining Mascot’s clinical research capabilities with Qila’s blockchain expertise, we create a powerful synergy that addresses critical industry challenges and drives innovation in healthcare research,” Qila.io Founder Sid Ugrankar said on Friday.