Bitcoin was created with an intention of saving people’s lives from being ruined by the centralized monetary system and flawed policies framed by governments and central banks. When Satoshi Nakamoto published the white paper on Bitcoin, no one imagined that it may literally save lives in the long run.
As developers continue to unearth new applications of Bitcoin’s underlying blockchain technology, one of the major breakthroughs of its application is in the field of drug development and testing process. Drug development is a costly and time-consuming process. Even though the in silico protein and drug modelling processes have considerably reduced the time taken for the development of a new drug, it still takes years, if not decades to launch a new drug into the market. In order to launch the drug, it has to first pass stringent trials on both lab rats and humans. Only upon review of these trials will the concerned regulatory body, like the FDA approve it for sales.
Even though a drug may do its job very well in curing the disease it is designed to treat, it may also present some really nasty side effects resulting in other serious health issues, which may even prove fatal. The clinical trials are conducted to monitor not just the effectiveness of the drug but also to check for any side effects and weigh the pros and cons of both. However, the pharmaceutical companies and scientists working on these drugs may selectively share only the positive effects of the said drug while conveniently ignoring any side effects, like in the case of an anti-depressant Paroxetine which was reported to be effective in treating patients with depression. However, it turned out to be not so effective in the later studies. Instead of addressing the issue, Paroxetine was found to increase suicidal […]
