GLEIF and PharmaLedger: advancing digital health solutions

12 július 2022

In a pioneering collaboration, the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) and PharmaLedger have begun using verifiable Legal Entity Identifiers (LEI) to support blockchain-based healthcare solutions. This collaboration aims to demonstrate the potential of LEIs to create digital trust in healthcare and beyond.

The role of digitalisation in the healthcare sector

A study by McKinsey & Company shows that the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated digital transformation by up to seven years. This rapid development has emphasised the need to operate on global platforms that foster trust and collaboration. However, trust is hard to come by in an increasingly digital world, especially in healthcare, where the authenticity of organisations and data is critical.

Need for secure digital identity.

The need for secure digital identities increases as digital transformation continues and the global economy grows. Improvements in authentication, identity verification, and data authenticity are essential to meeting the challenges of digital organisational identity. The LEI provides a solution for secure identity management on the Internet and protects organisations’ digital transactions and engagements across all industries.

Introducing the LEI to the healthcare industry

GLEIF and PharmaLedger have joined forces to create a digitally trusted ecosystem for global healthcare players. PharmaLedger, supported by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), has integrated the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) as a core component of a new blockchain platform for healthcare services. PharmaLedger will be one of the first in the world to use the LEI, a new digital proof of organisational identity from GLEIF.

Benefits and applications of the LEI

The LEI enables PharmaLedger to create real-time digital trust between the participants in its blockchain. A first application example is the digitisation of product information for patients, where the LEI identifies the manufacturer of each product. This application illustrates the benefits of the LEI, such as increased operational efficiency and improved digital exchange of data and documents.

Increasing operational efficiency

The PharmaLedger platform enables regulators and manufacturers to speed up development and approval processes and digitally share important product information with patients. This innovative application significantly improves the authenticity and availability of information and requires all participants to use the same digital identity.

Instant onboarding and digital trust

The LEI also offers the possibility of instant onboarding for healthcare companies that want to integrate into the PharmaLedger blockchain and quickly establish partnerships. These companies can be assured that their proof of identity has been thoroughly verified, creating high trust. Daniel Fritz, head of the PharmaLedger project, emphasises the importance of LEI in verifying companies and their representatives to ensure that only legitimate actors participate in transactions.

Potential for other sectors

The LEI has the potential to optimise onboarding in many sectors. Financial and other regulated service providers can use it to streamline and accelerate customer and partner onboarding and ongoing transactions. Any trading or data exchange platform can benefit from the trusted identity foundation that underpins the PharmaLedger model.

A new era of digital identities

The collaboration between GLEIF and PharmaLedger marks the beginning of a new era of digital identities that offers greater security, convenience and ease of use. The LEI ecosystem continuously expands, and new use cases are being discovered daily. Government organisations, companies and other legal entities worldwide gain access to reliable identification data regarding their legal status, ownership structure and authorised representatives. This enables trusted services and open, reliable data for unique identification.

Call for Collaboration

GLEIF welcomes open conversations to explore how LEI identity verification can be utilised in future applications, services and business models. Companies and organisations that see the potential for the LEI are invited to explore these opportunities together