Clinical Trail Ethereum Blockchain demo

This project is to demonstrate on how blockchain can be used in improving data transparency in clinical trials using Ethereum smart contracts for Ethereum smart contracts. This project was built using the Ethereum development and test framework Truffle.

This software requires access to an Ethereum blockchain network. For simple testing purposes the simplest setup is to use testrpc which creates an in memory blockchain. This software would also require IPFS which is distributed file system which will be used for storing the trial protocols in a distributed manner.

1. Pre Requisites

Windows, Linux or MacOS running a Git client and NodeJS 5.0+

2. Installation

Install TESTRPC

npm install -g ethereumjs-testrpc

Install Truffle

npm install -g truffle

Install IPFS

Download the package from https://ipfs.io/docs/install/ and execute the following commands

tar xvfz go-ipfs.tar.gz
mv go-ipfs/ipfs /usr/local/bin/ipfs
ipfs init

3. Installing the application

In a new command shell clone the repository Use your own folder name if you like

mkdir clinicaltrials-on-blockchain
git clone https://github.com/rajivjc/clinicaltrials-on-blockchain.git
npm install

4. Starting the Blockchain

In a new command shell run testrpc This starts blockchain node and creates ten test accounts.

To stop the blockchain node type ctrl-c

5. Taking IPFS online

ipfs daemon

To take IPFS offline type ctrl-c

6. Deploying the application contracts##

• Ensure the TESTRPC instance is running

• From a new command shell window change to the directory and type

  truffle migrate
  

This command runs the deployment scripts in the migrations folder. The contracts are mined into the blockchain

7. Starting the application##

The applcation may now be started. This can be served by any web server but the most convenient way to start the application is by running

truffle serve -p 8081

The application will be served by default at http://localhost:8081

Note:- If you have Metamask on your browser, you need to disable to for the demo application to work.

Demo

8. Useful Documentation

TESTRPC

https://github.com/ethereumjs/testrpc

Truffle Read The Docs

https://truffle.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

Ethereum Contract Deployment

https://ethereum.gitbooks.io/frontier-guide/content/creating_contract.html

IPFS

https://ipfs.io/