Why the Medical Industry (and Your Doctor) Should Move Onchain?
In 1951, just eight months post-diagnosis, Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman from Baltimore, succumbed to cervical cancer at 31. After diagnosis, her primary care doctor referred Lacks to Johns Hopkins, where Dr. George Otto Gey, without her awareness or consent, biopsied a cancerous mass in her cervix.
Throughout her treatment, two samples were extracted from Lacks, leading to the creation of the HeLa immortal cell line, significantly advancing contemporary biomedical research.
Lacks and her family were never informed about the decision to collect her cells or those of many others. These cells contributed to research and treatment breakthroughs, saving numerous lives.
While Lacks’ family eventually received partial legal control over her DNA code in a historic settlement in 2023, her story remains a case study for the lack of transparency, accountability, access, and consent in the medical industry — and especially how it affects minorities. Seventy-two years later, blockchain technology offers a potential solution to the problem that plagued not only Henrietta Lacks but so many others like her who exist at the whims of digital health access inequities.
Table of Contents
- Tokenization fosters transparency — and much more.
- Possession & Clarity
- Genuineness and Availability
- Revenue Generation
- Participation
- Empowering Patients
Tokenization fosters transparency — and much more.
“NFTs possess the potential to empower patients, shifting control from health data vendors to individuals.” — National Library of Medicine
The allure of the blockchain lies in its unalterable, transparent, and tamper-resistant nature. An intricate network of peer-to-peer nodes functions like a chain of breadcrumbs, consistently leading back to a specific block settlement or transaction hash. This unique address of an onchain transaction serves as a record, offering proof that a specific event has transpired.
From digital art to currencies, this quality makes blockchain highly effective in validating ownership and lineage of a particular asset. Although the NFT surge in 2021 predominantly showcased this power in digital art, it is equally influential in confirming the origin and trajectory of various data, including health data, which transitioned to electronic formats in the early 90s.
Exploring why this marks a potential revolutionary shift in the field of medicine.
Possession & Clarity
Whether you’re sharing on Instagram or completing a patient form on a waiting room tablet, your data’s ownership and immediate access are surprisingly limited. The intricate details, though crucial, are often buried in the fine print. Navigating New York state’s website reveals numerous restrictions and hurdles concerning your health data—requiring requests (via a form), subject to potential denial (with appeal options), and potentially incurring charges. Despite improvements under HIPAA, unethical things with health data persist.
Blockchain and tokenization offer a transformative solution. In a web3-driven health industry, everything, from patient forms to medical records and tissue samples, can be placed on the blockchain. Rather than traditional signatures, onchain forms would be signed using a web3 wallet. The journey of your tokenized medical data, potentially embedded in a dynamicNFT reflecting your medical history, becomes traceable. A similar system is already being piloted by the University of Pittsburgh’s Breast Disease Research.
Bringing medical portals and providers onchain eliminates reliance on outdated, costly EHR (electronic health record) software like Cerner—a centralized data garden. This heightened transparency can enhance efficiency and transparency in managing tissue and organ donors, addressing the challenges of gatekept, difficult-to-track records.
Genuineness and Availability
Onchain medical data instills confidence in data authenticity for both patients and medical providers, facilitating verification between parties. This verification acts as a safeguard against medical scams, unreliable information, and unauthorized data sharing. It also ensures transparent and immediate access for patients whose wallet addresses align with their health data and for medical providers.
The need for patients to apply and wait for access to their rightful data would be eliminated. Authentication, extending from machinery to tissue samples and organs, could be seamlessly verified using onchain technology. This not only safeguards against counterfeit medicine but also mitigates risks associated with the organ donor black market.
Revenue Generation
Had Henrietta Lacks’ cell data been minted onchain, her family would have had clear visibility into its usage. Through the implementation of web3 health applications, the Lacks family could grant explicit consent for the use and access of her data. This concept parallels creator royalties in NFTs, allowing patients to monitor and potentially sell ongoing access to their health data for research. This innovative feature could offer additional income for patients grappling with substantial medical expenses and researchers sharing their work on the blockchain.
Participation
Amid the surge in demand for medical concierge services and participation programs, the potential for web3 disruption in this domain is evident. Moving away from conventional membership frameworks and centralized acquisition methods, physicians can directly vend membership NFTs to patients. These NFTs can encompass loyalty tiers, perks, and dynamic metadata, leveraging the verifiable and transparent attributes discussed earlier. In an industry often perceived as cold and rigid, this approach introduces a layer of dynamic engagement and customization.
Empowering Patients
Realizing these use cases in an industry dominated by Big Tech and Big Pharma poses significant challenges. However, similar to how cryptocurrency, NFTs, DeFi, and DAOs have democratized access and opportunities, the prospect of integrating medicine on the blockchain can redistribute power to the broader population—empowering both the general public and the patients who require it most.
Raakhee Miller serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Mojito, a prominent NFT platform solution that empowers companies to establish new and valuable business verticals, amassing over $100 million in sales. Launched in 2021 with an initial funding round of $20 million and a $100 million valuation, Mojito garnered support from strategic investors such as Sotheby’s, CAA (Creative Artists Agency), NEA, and Moore Capital. With a career spanning over two decades, Raakhee has held influential leadership roles in product and technology at esteemed organizations like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Macquarie. Additionally, she has served as the Chief Product Officer at Drivewealth, a B2B tech unicorn facilitating embedded investing experiences across 100+ global brands.
Mojito, a premier platform for NFT commerce and community engagement, emerged as a spin-out from Serotonin, a web3 marketing and product studio. Embraced by the world’s most prominent brands, Mojito facilitates white-label NFT drops, marketplaces, memberships, and events. Since its inception in 2021, Mojito secured a significant investment of $20 million at a valuation of $100 million, attracting support from strategic investors like Sotheby’s, CAA (Creative Artists Agency), NEA’s Connect Ventures, and Moore Capital. Notably, Mojito has achieved remarkable success, surpassing $120 million in sales for brands and creators.
