IBM Watson Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will partner on a research initiative to define a secure, efficient, and scalable method to exchange health data using blockchain technology.
Blockchain technology is designed to provide a highly secure, decentralized framework for data sharing. For healthcare purposes, IBM and the FDA initially will explore the exchange of oncology-related data from several sources, such as electronic medical records, clinical trials, genomic data, and health data from mobile devices, wearables, and the internet.
The agreement is for two years, but IBM and the FDA plan to share initial research findings later this year, IBM said.
