Monitoring Supply Chain of Pharmaceutical Drugs Using Blockchain

Abstract

In the last two decades, the global value of pharmaceutical goods traded increased by six times. As a result of this growth, the pharmaceutical supply chains have become more complicated and ambiguous. The number of counterfeit drug-related incidents have also increased. Counterfeit drugs when consumed can have adverse effects on individuals and sometimes can even lead to death. The solution to this problem is leveraging blockchain technology. The paper proposes a supply chain management system using a permissioned blockchain network which will consist of role-based authorization to avoid tampering with the data available in the network. The blockchain-based decentralized solution will help to improve collaboration and trust issues by minimizing the consequences caused by information asymmetry by introducing transparency, traceability, and consistency of all the item units.