S.1567 – Finding Orphan-disease Remedies With Antifungal Research and Development Act of 2019

This Bill aims to amend the ‘Public Health Service Act’ by changing and inserting various provisions. Regarding Blockchain, Section 8 is of particular relevance. Section 8 sets out to add various provisions into ‘Part A of title IV of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 281 et seq.)’.

First of all, Section 8 defines blockchain as follows”

“The term ‘blockchain’ means software that uses a distributed digital ledger of cryptographically signed transactions that are grouped into blocks, each of which—

(A) is cryptographically linked to the previous block after validation and undergoing a consensus decision; and

(B) when added as a new block, makes any older blocks more difficult to modify and is replicated across all copies of the ledger within the relevant network, with any conflicts in such blocks resolved automatically using established rules.”

Furthermore, Section 8 aims to have the Director of NIH:

“award a grant to an eligible entity to install a blockchain on the servers of, or otherwise provide blockchain services to, the National Institutes of Health, and provide support with respect to such a blockchain, which shall contain public, unalterable data which includes every query made through the procedure established under subsection (c), as well as the identity of the individual who asked such a question, without disclosing the results of such queries”