Blockchain-based medical data sharing solutions
Pharmagest Group becomes a lead industrial shareholder of French-American start-up, Embleema, by acquiring an equity stake.
- Pharmagest Group becomes the company’s lead industrial shareholder by acquiring a significant 15% stake through a reserved capital increase
- Embleema is developing a blockchain-based digital platform for sharing health data
- This investment will enable Pharmagest Group to develop innovative health sector solutions in Europe based on a transparent and secure blockchain technology.
- The platform developed by Embleema gives patients back control over their health data and how it is used.
- This strategic partnership is fully aligned with Pharmagest Group’s strategy of placing the patient at the heart of the healthcare system and offers patients a way to participate in medical research.
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Pharmagest Group (Euronext Paris B – FR 0012882389 ), the French pharmacy information technology leader, and Embleema, the French-American start-up specialised in healthcare blockchain technology, today announces the signature of a strategic partnership to develop blockchain based applications for sharing health data. This partnership is accompanied by Pharmagest Group’s acquisition of a 15% stake in Embleema’s capital combined with its participation in a Private Placement ICO launched by Embleema France in October 2018.
Empowering patients to fully own and control their medical information
Founded in 2017 by Robert CHU, Embleema is a start-up developing a patient-driven healthcare blockchain network for secure sharing of personal health records. Hosted on a private Ethereum blockchain, Embleema provides the healthcare ecosystem with a comprehensive view of patients’ medical history.
It has already launched a first patient blockchain in the United States, PatientTruth, that gives the freedom to each patient to store online and share their medical history;
Contributing to medical research with Real World Evidence (RWE)
Embleema brings together within its ecosystem a community of patients and patient advocacy groups, on the one hand and a community of companies in the life sciences and healthcare sector, on the other hand.
Patients share their data anonymously in real-time on the Embleema platform. Patients retain complete control over their data and are free to choose if they wish to share it, with whom and for what purpose.
Pharmaceutical companies and healthcare authorities in turn have access to valuable anonymized “real-time” evidence about patients to accelerate the market launch of new treatments and better evaluate the efficacy of their healthcare products.
Creation of the first worldwide marketplace for healthcare data
This strategic partnership with Pharmagest Group will accelerate Embleema’s development of the first global marketplace of health data research between patients, clinical, academic, medical or pharmaceutical research companies and health authorities.
In this marketplace, patients receive compensation in the form of digital tokens (RWE tokens – for Real World Evidence) in exchange for their data. These tokens will also be used by other participants of the Embleema network, including Pharmagest Group who has just acquired 30 million tokens during the Private Placement ICO launched by Embleema France in October 2018.
Pharmagest continues to roll out its patient-centred platform
For Pharmagest Group, this equity acquisition reflects its strategy focused on developing innovative patient-centred solutions. With the development of its LGPI Global Services® business software suite, the roll-out of the compliance monitoring software (Logiciel de Suivi d’Observance or LSO) and Axigate’s Electronic Medical Records (EMR) solutions, Pharmagest Group’s equity partnership will accelerate the development of Embleema solutions which are well adapted to the needs of the Group’s activities, particularly in the promising e-Health sector.
Pharmagest Group, already present in this sector as an authorised health data hosting service provider and through its recent equity stakes in Diatelic, Axigate, Noviatek, or Sailendra, is also seeking to develop in the sector of blockchain-based solutions for sharing medical data. Becoming a shareholder of Embleema will contribute to this goal.
Thierry Chapusot, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Pharmagest Group stated: “We believe in enormous potential of blockchain technology in the healthcare sector which is destined to become a key technology for protecting data and ensuring transparency for the patient. The system developed by Embleema is at the forefront of decentralising and sharing data to better monitor the efficacy and safety of drugs. With its world-class team, Embleema has already demonstrated its potential with a solution which works and generated interest by key partners in the pharmaceutical industry as a means to shorten time to market for innovative drugs. We are very excited about the opportunity to participate in its deployment and eager to create complementary synergies with our Group. With this equity stake, Pharmagest Group establishes a strong position to prepare for the future of healthcare by significantly enhancing its technology portfolio.”
Objective: deploying the platform in Europe
With the support of Pharmagest Group, Embleema will be able to accelerate the development and deployment of its technology in Europe to enhance its Real World Evidence (RWE) blockchain technology.
On that basis, Embleema will be able to leverage Pharmagest Group’s excellent network of coverage of pharmacies in France and Europe and its different hospital and social care applications and solutions to support the European deployment of its technology and platform.
Robert Chu, Founder and CEO of Embleema explains: “We are delighted by this strategic partnership with Pharmagest Group which will enable us to integrate our blockchain technology within the different solutions already developed by Pharmagest Group that has been at the cutting edge of innovation in Europe for the last 25 years. Pharmagest’s addition to our shareholder base will give us the financial resources needed for the rapid deployment of these technologies for patients through pharmacies or medical establishments equipped by Pharmagest. Through the deployment of this blockchain technology on a large scale basis for the benefit of patients, our partnership seeks to position the French healthcare system as a global leader in digital health and to provide each citizen with access to their healthcare data from their smartphone and control its use.“
About Embleema
Embleema is the patient-driven healthcare blockchain network for secure sharing of personal health records. Hosted on a private Ethereum blockchain, Embleema’s consolidated, highly-secure repository provides the healthcare ecosystem with an unequalled and holistic view of patients’ medical history. Embleema is creating a decentralised healthcare data economy by connecting the key stakeholders in the healthcare industry, directly with patients while maintaining the patient’s data sovereignty.
Robert Chu, CEO left his role as Senior Vice President, Global Technology Solutions at IMS Health, a global leader in healthcare data, to found Embleema in June 2017 and is supported by a team of healthcare and technology executives from Harvard Medical School, T-Systems, the Pharmaceuticals Division of Pierre Fabre, iBionext and Nokia / Withings Digital Health.
About PHARMAGEST Group:
Pharmagest Group is the French pharmacy information technology leader, with a market share of more than 42% and more than 1,000 employees. The Group’s strategy is based on a core business of improving healthcare through information technology innovation and developing two priority areas: 1/ Services and technologies for healthcare professionals, with a focus on assisting pharmacies in the area of patient medication compliance; and 2/ technologies for improving the efficacy of healthcare systems.
This strategy is executed through specialised business lines developed by Pharmagest Group: pharmacy IT solutions, e-Health solutions, solutions for healthcare professionals, solutions for pharmaceutical laboratories, connected health devices and apps, and a sales financing marketplace…
These businesses are divided into four divisions: Pharmacy – Europe Solutions, Health and Social Care Facilities Solutions, e-Health Solutions and FinTech.
