Genomics company explores NFTs in hopes of advancing precision medicine

It’s predicted that nonfungible tokens (NFTs) will person a immense interaction connected society. Given this, it shouldn’t travel arsenic a astonishment that the trillion-dollar healthcare assemblage has begun to research NFTs tokens to beforehand medicine.

It’s besides important to constituent retired that blockchain exertion tin play an increasingly important relation wrong the healthcare sector. This was precocious highlighted successful a study from the European Union Blockchain Observatory, which specifically documents however blockchain applications tin lick challenges facing the healthcare industry.

For example, the insubstantial notes that diligent engagement and transparency of however information is stored, on with the effectual organisation of cognition and information remains problematic for the healthcare sector. Yet, arsenic the blockchain abstraction continues to advance, tokenization successful the signifier of nonfungible tokens whitethorn service arsenic a solution to galore of the challenges facing today’s healthcare industry.

GeneNFTs purpose to revolutionize precision medicine

For those unfamiliar with the term, precision medicine refers to “an emerging attack for illness attraction and prevention that takes into relationship idiosyncratic variability successful genes, environment, and manner for each person,” according to the Precision Medicine Initiative.

Specifically speaking, Cao believes that tokenizing familial profiles tin assistance patients support information ownership and transparency into their insights portion receiving galore benefits that are not typically associated with accepted genomic testing. He explained:

For example, Genetica, a genomic institution catering to the Asia Pacific region, precocious partnered with Oasis Labs, a Web3 information absorption firm, to tokenize genomic profiles. Tuan Cao, Genetica’s CEO and co-founder, told Cointelegraph that the extremity down this concern is to beforehand precision medicine by giving patients information ownership and rights done GeneNFTs.

“This whitethorn beryllium 1 of the astir important NFT applications successful the world. Our familial illustration is unsocial and it should beryllium represented by an NFT. GeneNFTs are the tokenized ownership of one’s familial data. This enables each of america to genuinely instrumentality power and payment from our information contribution.”

According to Cao, accepted familial investigating companies similar 23andMe, for example, trust connected intermediaries to cod diligent information for research. As such, users indispensable spot centralized entities to safely store delicate wellness information. Moreover, users bash not person immoderate incentives for opting to stock their information with 3rd parties. Yet, tokenizing genomic information successful the signifier of an NFT has the imaginable to alteration this exemplary entirely.

For instance, Cao explained that Genetica’s concern with Oasis Labs enables users to execute a accepted familial trial and person a GeneNFT afterward that represents existent ownership of their familial profile. More importantly, Cao noted that GeneNFT holders go the gatekeepers of their data, meaning they indispensable assistance entree to third-party entities that privation to usage that information. He elaborated:

“A idiosyncratic holding a GeneNFT besides holds the backstage cardinal for that data. If a pharmaceutical institution for lawsuit wants to tally a familial study, they indispensable nonstop a connection for access. A idiosyncratic tin past motion the connection to o.k. the access.”

Cao further explained that determination are some fiscal and aesculapian benefits associated with GeneNFTs. “Financial benefits impact gross sharing, truthful users volition get paid erstwhile 3rd parties petition to entree their data. We are capable to contented these payments automatically owed to blockchain exertion and astute contracts,” said Cao. 

Cao believes that the aesculapian benefits achieved from GeneNFTs outweigh the fiscal incentives. “When users enactment successful a familial study, a astute declaration is leveraged to guarantee patients volition person attraction archetypal if they lend to a objective trial. Precision medicine profiles for treatments of definite diseases based connected familial variants, which is however this exemplary is yet advancing precision medicine,” helium said.

Dawn Song, laminitis of Oasis Labs, told Cointelegraph that GeneNFTs tin beryllium viewed arsenic data-backed nonfungible tokens. “Typically radical deliberation of NFTs arsenic JPEG images, but data-backed NFTs harvester blockchain with privateness computing to utilize definite pieces of information portion inactive complying with information usage policies similar the EU’s information extortion regulations, oregon GDPR,” she said. Technically speaking, Song explained that Genetica volition usage Oasis Network’s Parcel, a privacy-preserving information governance exertion programming interface (API), to tokenize genomic profiles. She elaborated:

“Given that genomes are the quintessential individuality of individuals, it is captious that immoderate level that stores and processes genomic information provides confidentiality to the information astatine rest, successful question and, much importantly, successful use. Parcel provides these capabilities via the usage of encryption of information astatine remainder and successful question and trusted execution environments to support information confidentiality successful use.”

Given the size of genomic information and the complexity of the computations that tally connected them, Song further explained that Parcel’s usage of off-chain retention and off-chain unafraid execution environments makes it imaginable to store genomic information and tally analyses connected them. “Parcel besides supports a argumentation model that is utilized by information owners, oregon individuals arsenic owners of their genomes, to specify who tin usage their information and for what purposes,” she added. To date, Oasis Lab’s exertion has enabled the tokenization of 30,000 genomic profiles, and the concern with Genetica volition summation this fig to 100,000.

Healthcare manufacture already uses tokenization

While NFTs are an emerging conception for the healthcare sector, it’s absorbing to admit that tokenization successful an wholly antithetic consciousness from NFT) is becoming much communal arsenic diligent privateness becomes critical.

For example, Seqster, a healthcare exertion institution founded successful 2016, provides tokenized information to code privateness needs crossed the healthcare industry. Ardy Arianpour, CEO and laminitis of Seqster, told Cointelegraph that the institution tokenizes assorted forms of diligent data, including genomic DNA data, for healthcare providers:

“Seqster tokenizes a patient’s idiosyncratic accusation fields specified arsenic their name, address, phone, day of commencement and email into a acceptable of unsocial tokens that a institution tin past usage to place a diligent wrong its network. Tokenization allows each organization, provider, payer and researcher to person their ain interior unsocial ID representing a existent diligent without revealing to the different enactment successful a transaction whom the diligent really is.”

According to Arianpour, tokenization successful this respect is indispensable to debar exposing idiosyncratic wellness accusation astir a diligent without their explicit consent, which would beryllium a usurpation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). On the different hand, Arianpour explained that portion tokenization is helpful, it is not ever necessary. “In definite environments, similar objective trials, the sponsoring enactment tin make a ‘subject_id’ that uniquely identifies the patient. That ID tin beryllium shared wrong their enactment oregon with partners without revealing the patient’s existent identity. This is simply a much wide utilized modular among the objective proceedings abstraction and besides meets FDA compliance,” helium said.

Datavant, a healthcare information company, has besides been leveraging tokenization to guarantee diligent accusation is backstage yet accessible. McKinsey & Company precocious featured an interview with Pete McCabe, CEO of Datavant, successful which helium explained however tokenization is used.

According to McCabe, Datavant defines tokenization arsenic “cutting-edge, patent-pending de-identification exertion that replaces backstage diligent accusation with an encrypted token that can’t beryllium reverse-engineered to uncover the archetypal information.” McCabe added that tokenization successful this respect “can make patient-specific tokens successful immoderate information set, which means that present 2 antithetic information sets tin beryllium combined utilizing the diligent tokens to lucifer the corresponding records without ever sharing the underlying diligent information.”

Education is critical

While it’s notable that NFTs are starting to beryllium applied to healthcare, a fistful of challenges whitethorn hamper adoption. For instance, Robert Chu, co-founder and CEO of Embleema — a information level for personalized medicine — explained successful the EU Blockchain Observatory’s healthcare study that information indispensable beryllium de-identified successful the United States without the anticipation of reidentifying diligent accusation successful bid to comply with HIPAA. But, Chu explained that this becomes challenging erstwhile lone a fewer patients enactment successful the dataset:

“In this example, it whitethorn beryllium intolerable for immoderate method to wholly de-identify the data. Should we past forbid immoderate probe for uncommon diseases, adjacent if patients hold to stock identified data? In our opinion, it should not. This illustration demonstrates good that determination needs to beryllium a equilibrium betwixt privateness and innovation.”

To Chu’s point, Cao mentioned that radical utilizing GeneNFTs to enactment successful a objective survey volition person attraction archetypal if they lend their data. This would besides mean that their information would beryllium identifiable, which whitethorn effect successful regulatory concerns successful circumstantial regions similar the U.S.

Moreover, Cao shared that 90% of Genetica users are non-crypto natives. Therefore, Cao believes that the biggest situation for the adoption of GeneNFTs is education. “We person to enactment successful other enactment to amended astir each of our users connected the benefits of GeneNFTs, explaining however these supply information ownership, accessibility and utilization,” helium said. Echoing Cao, Song commented that idiosyncratic acquisition is so the biggest hurdle for adoption. “Many users recognize what an artwork NFT is, but they are not acquainted with data-backed NFTs.”

Although this is presently the case, Song believes that data-backed NFTs person the imaginable to alteration nine arsenic the world’s system becomes information driven. “This attack could turn fast, but we archetypal request to get users to recognize this exemplary better. Compared to a fewer years ago, idiosyncratic consciousness has fortunately been overmuch higher successful regards to emerging information extortion methods.”