Can Blockchain Fix the Opioid Epidemic? Intel Wants to Find Out
- Technology could track drugs as they leak out of supply chain
- Effort is aimed at fighting counterfeits, ‘double doctoring’
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Digital currencies have been accused of worsening the opioid crisis because they make it easier to buy and sell drugs anonymously.
Now Intel Corp. and the pharmaceutical industry are planning to fight fire with fire. The chipmaker, working with health companies, aims to use so-called blockchain technology -- similar to the one that underpins the digital currency Bitcoin -- to better trace drugs and potentially stem the epidemic.