Press release
Intel, ConsenSys Health Advance Pandemic Research
ConsenSys Health applies privacy-preserving blockchain security, with support from Intel’s Pandemic Response Technology Initiative, to help combat COVID-19.
About this update from Intel Corporation
[{"type":"text","content":"\nConsenSys Health applies privacy-preserving blockchain security, with support from Intel’s Pandemic Response Technology Initiative, to help combat COVID-19.\n\n SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nWhat’s New: Healthcare software solutions provider ConsenSys Health is using blockchain-based data security fueled by Intel technology to conduct research into making clinical trial recruitment more efficient and equitable. On the heels of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) first global report on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) for healthcare and medicine, ConsenSys Health is seizing opportunities to apply innovative technology that helps protect patient privacy while increasing efficiency with the goal of combating the coronavirus.\n\n“Long-standing industry challenges have only intensified throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This is especially true for marginalized communities who consistently battle inequities in access to clinical trials. With the help of Intel’s Pandemic Response Technology Initiative and Intel technology, we are able to better work towards making healthcare more equitable for all.”\n-- Sean Manion, Ph.D., chief scientific officer, ConsenSys Health\n\nHow It Works: Clinical trial recruitment is expensive, inefficient and time-consuming. As COVID-19 therapeutics move through fast-tracked research pipelines and into clinical trials, it is critical to effectively recruit patients – including those from more vulnerable populations who consistently battle inequities in access to care – into those trials while protecting patient privacy.\n\nConsenSys Health and a large pharmaceutical company researched a privacy-preserving blockchain-orchestrated federated computing approach to clinical trial matching. Processing electronic health record data was considerably faster with hardware-enhanced security through ConsenSys Health’s Elevated Compute platform optimized for Intel® Software Guard Extensions (Intel® SGX) on the latest 3rd Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable platform, compared to previous systems. The benefits of this privacy-preserving approach can be applied across the global pharmaceutical industry to improve patient matching for clinical trials and accelerate treatment discoveries.\n\nWhy It Matters: The global COVID-19 pandemic brought to light data security challenges and inefficiencies that exist within t...