IBM and Sichuan Hejia launched a blockchain-based, supply chain financial services platform for pharmaceutical procurement.
The Yijian Blockchain Technology Application System is a permissioned blockchain platform that uses Hyperledger Fabric.
IBM informed that it is in production with Hejia and one pharmaceutical retailer, a hospital and a bank running business transactions.
In July, Hejia plans to expand the platform to include multiple pharmaceutical retailers, hospitals and banks. The system is designed to help eliminate some of the financing challenges in the pharmaceutical industry.
Working with IBM, Hejia has established a blockchain-based business network among its supply chain participants.
By tracking drugs through the supply chain and encrypting trading records, the transparency of the blockchain can help establish the authenticity of the transaction. In turn, this may help lower the credit risk profiled by financing institutions, which should allow the payment period to be shortened, possibly to the first or next trading day.
Overall, the platform is designed to help to reduce the turnover time of funds on both sides of the supply chain and allow banks to be more informed and grant access to funding for small and medium pharmaceutical retailers.
IBM has worked with more than 400 clients across financial services, supply chains, IoT, risk management, digital rights management and healthcare to implement blockchain applications.
Hyperledger Fabric is an open source blockchain framework and one of the five Hyperledger projects hosted by The Linux Foundation.
