JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The scale and severity of the opioid epidemic call for innovative, multi-pronged solutions. Research and development is key to accelerate the discovery and evaluation of interventions that support pain and substance use disorder management. In parallel, the use and integration of blockchain technology within research networks hold the potential to address some of the unique challenges facing opioid research.

Objective:

This viewpoint article discusses the applications of blockchain technology and illustrates potential ways it could be applied to strengthen the validity of outcomes research on the opioid epidemic.

Methods:

We reviewed published and grey literature to identify useful applications of blockchain, specifically those that address challenges faced by opioids research networks and programs. We then convened a panel of experts to discuss the strengths, limitations, and feasibility of each application.

Results:

Blockchain shows potential in addressing some of the issues around health data management including data availability, data sharing and interoperability, and privacy and security. We identified five primary applications of blockchain to opioids: clinical trials and pharmaceutical research; incentivizing data donation and behavior change; secure exchange and management of e-prescriptions; supply chain management; and secondary use of clinical data for research and public health surveillance. The published literature was limited, leading us to rely on grey literature, which was limited too in its discussion of the technical aspects of implementation. The technical expert panel provided additional context and an assessment of feasibility that was lacking in the literature.

Conclusions:

Research on opioid use and misuse is challenging due to disparate data stored across different systems, data and systems interoperability issues, and legal requirements. These areas must be navigated to make data accessible, timely, and useful to researchers. Blockchain technologies have the potential to act as a facilitator in this process, offering a more efficient, secure, and privacy-preserving solution to data exchange. Among the five primary applications, we found that clinical trial research, supply chain management, and secondary use of data had the most examples in practice and the potential effectiveness of blockchain. More discussions and studies should focus on addressing technical questions concerning scalability and tackling practical concerns like cost, standards, and governance around the implementation of blockchain in healthcare. Policy concerns related to balancing the need for data accessibility that also protects patient privacy and their autonomy in revoking consent should also be examined.