Abeer Mirdad, Abdulaziz Khan, Farookh Khadeer Hussain
Blockchain technology has recently been used to provide a secure storage environment through a distributed ledger. Blockchain has increasingly been used in other sectors such as real estate and supply chains, where trust and transparency are paramount considerations. In the pharmaceutical industry, for operational efficiencies, information must be shared reliably between the various stakeholders. A significant limitation in the existing literature is the lack of work to address niche problems such as the just-in-time disposal of drugs that are close to expiry. To address this gap, we propose using blockchain technology. The architectural underpinning of the proposed system (PharmaBlock) is presented and discussed. The primary contribution of this paper is the use of an early warning system (EWS) coupled with marketplace to intelligently identify and dispose of near-expiry drugs. The EWS and marketplace are evaluated and benchmarked using an experimental setup. The result of this experimental has shown that over 90% of notifications were sent correctly and shown also more than 92% of the optimal prices were predicted correctly in PharmaBlock.
Medicine counterfeiting has raised significant concern in recent years. Falsified and counterfeit drug production and distribution are illegal and a public health concern. The intensity of this problem varies significantly among different countries, depending on how strongly a country’s laws and procedures are followed. Preventing counterfeit medicines has thus become a critical concern, especially in developing and underdeveloped countries. This research aims, firstly, to outline the possible factors of medicine counterfeiting; secondly, to propose a blockchain-based framework to prevent medicine counterfeiting; and thirdly, to evaluate the proposed framework. A content analysis and a semi-structured interview with the key personnel related to the medicine manufacturing and distribution system in Bangladesh were carried out to derive the current scenario of medicine counterfeit. Based on the interviews and content analysis, a set of use cases for preventing medicine counterfeiting in the context of Bangladesh was explored. The required features for developing a digital solution were extracted considering the derived use cases. A blockchain-based framework for preventing medicine counterfeit was proposed by adopting the extracted features. A prototype was developed based on the proposed framework, and an evaluation study was performed to evaluate the prototype. The evaluation study showed that the average block execution time is 201 ms, and the average block time is 482 ms. Again, the proposed framework was found secure, scalable, customer-oriented, and practical compared to other systems.
A promising approach to building a distributed platform for shared data that is unchangeable, trustworthy, dependable, and accessible is blockchainbased drug traceability. The Hyperledger fabric and Hyperledger Besu methodologies are used in this article to provide a complete study and summary of the present state of drug traceability distribution research on the blockchain technology in enterprise platform. The Hyperledger Fabric and Besu blockchainbased platforms satisfy critical requirements for medication traceability, including privacy, reliability, transparency, security, authorisation, authentication, and scalability. Drug supply chain transactions are carried out skill fully and securely by the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain platform among a dispersed network of stakeholders. Various pharmaceutical stakeholder groups comprise this fabricenabled private, permissioned distributed network, which supports the efficient and secure execution of medication in supply chain transactions in enterprise system. This study also explains how blockchain technology is benefiting the healthcare industry while showcasing some of its disruptive aspects that have the potential to alter current enterprise application in drug tracking procedures.
Because of the frequent occurrence of drug safety incidents in recent years, drug safety cannot be effectively guaranteed. The purpose of this study is to establish a blockchain-based drug traceability system and strengthen the construction of a drug information technology traceability system. Because the traditional drug traceability system depends on a certain center, there are many traceability participants, and the information is difficult to integrate, resulting in incomplete and unreliable traceability information. The use of blockchain technology can achieve data tamper-proof and decentralization so that each drug can be tracked through the unique identifier on the blockchain to ensure the integrity and authenticity of the data. Finally, "one thing, one code, one traceability code" will be realized, to strengthen the sharing of traceability information, realize the traceability of the whole variety and process, and improve drug safety. The drug traceability system consists of the data collection system, product traceability identification system, data statistical analysis system, and other subsystems. The platform uses distributed ledgers, blockchain, data technology, smart contracts, data mining and analysis, and other technologies to achieve multiple functional requirements such as anti-counterfeiting traceability of enterprise products, process tracking, data statistics, and so on.
In recent years, pharmaceutical drug traceability systems have been developed as critical tools for improving the digital supply chain's transparency and visibility. Blockchain-based drug traceability proposes a promising solution to create a distributed shared data platform for an irreversible, trustworthy, reliable, and transparent system. This article provides a thorough analysis and summary of the current state of drug traceability distribution research on the blockchain platform by using Hyperledger febric and Hyperledger Besu methodologies. Blockchain based platform, Hyperledger Fabric and Besu meets essential needs for drug traceability such as privacy, dependability, transparency, security, authorization, authentication, and scalability. The Hyperledger Fabric blockchain platform executes drug transactions proficiently and securely in the supply chains within a distributed network of stakeholders. This fabric-enabled private, permissioned distributed network comprising various pharmaceutical stakeholder groups aids in the efficient and secure execution of medication in supply chain transactions. This study also examines the impact of blockchain technology in the healthcare system while exhibiting how some features of this disruptive technology have the potential to transform existing cold chain and drug traceability processes. Blockchain technology embraces significant benefits in the processes of pharmaceutical drug serialization, protecting IoT devices, and ensuring temper-proof transaction sharing. Blockchain is also a potential solution to make use of IoT-enabled vehicles and warehouses for cold chain transportation by using smart sensors to capture critical temperature data. Blockchain-enabled IoT sensors in the cold chain ensure the secure transportation of drugs to pharmaceutical stakeholders in the supply chain network.
Marta Durá, Fátima Leal, Ángel Sánchez-García, Carlos Sáez · 7 authors
Abstract Purpose This paper analyses the feasibility of tracking data originality for pharmaceutical manufacturing in a tamper-proof manner using a geographically distributed system. The main research question is whether it is possible to ensure the traceability of drug manufacturing through the use of smart contracts and a private blockchain network. Methods This work employs a private Ethereum network with a proof-of-authority consensus algorithm to allow participating nodes to commit the medicament manufacturing originality as transactions in blocks. We use smart contracts to assess the “Original” principle of the ALCOA+ data integrity principles for full sensor-enabled production lines within pharmaceutical manufacturing plants. We have evaluated our data originality assessment approach employing a temporal series of 1300 reports generated based on real datasets from pharma production lines. Out of these reports, 300 reports have been randomly tampered with to make them “unoriginal” (i.e., falsified). Results Evaluation consistently shows that the proposed approach systematically detects all the manufacturing records whether original or not, together with any source of falsification. By randomly injecting four common data falsification types, their approach effectively detects tampering and ensures the authenticity of the data originality acquired by sensors within manufacturing lines. Conclusion The approach of using a private blockchain network with a proof-of-authority consensus algorithm and smart contracts is a feasible method to track data originality for pharmaceutical manufacturing in a tamper-proof manner. In addition, this approach effectively detects tampering and ensures the authenticity of the data originality acquired by sensors within manufacturing lines.
Over the last decade, pharmaceutical businesses have battled to standardize product traceability across the supply chain process, enabling counterfeiters to enter the market with counterfeit pharmaceuticals. As a result, an end-to-end product tracking system is crucial for ensuring product safety and eliminating counterfeit products across the pharmaceutical supply chain. In this paper, we introduce PharmaChain, a decentralized hyperledger fabric framework that leverages confidentiality, accountability, and interoperability. This system enables on-chain and off-chain storage for secured, rapid transactions, along with smart contracts establishing data provenance. To demonstrate security, we have provided double signing through the elliptic curve digital signature algorithm, hash data encryption, and 33% node attack. The purpose of this suggested framework is to engage particular governance disciplines to assess its effectiveness in improving drug traceability across the pharmaceutical supply chain to preserve public health by preventing counterfeit pharmaceuticals.
Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Pharmaceutical Quality and Counterfeiting
Innovative Microfluidic and Catalytic Techniques Innovation
Joe Naoum‐Sawaya, Samir Elhedhli, Paulo R. V. de Carvalho
Counterfeiting is an ever growing problem worldwide which is exacerbated by the ease of access through e-commerce and online shopping. This calls for innovative technologies, such as blockchain, to identify, track, and prevent fake products from reaching consumers, especially for vital sectors such as the drug industry, which is the main motivation for this work. We investigate the strategic implications of using blockchain technology to deter counterfeiters. We particularly focus on the case of deceptive counterfeits that infiltrate legitimate distribution channels. Deceptive counterfeits lack the quality of genuine products and may pose immense health and safety risks to consumers who are unable to distinguish them from genuine products at the time of purchase. In contrast to prior literature that assumes that blockchain eliminates deceptive counterfeiting, we present a model that realistically considers blockchain as a technology that increases the capability of detecting counterfeits. This capability nonetheless comes at an increasing cost that may financially discourage genuine manufacturers from adopting the technology. The presented model shows that blockchain is not always financially beneficial and demonstrates that manufacturers can strategically balance between product quality and investment in blockchain to combat counterfeiting. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that, with the availability of blockchain, genuine manufacturers may be less interested to differentiate products based on quality, but rather rely on blockchain to block counterfeits.
The pharmaceutical company is key to having a strong healthcare system, and excellent healthcare is essential for every society and economy. However, there are significant concerns with medication safety and security as a result of fake and inferior medical items, which constitute a significant hazard and harm to consumers’ health. Globally, drug counterfeiting is a severe problem that endangers the public’s health as well as the health of consumers. The global business of manufacturing fake medications generates enormous annual revenue. To have a quality healthcare system, the pharmaceutical industry is of great importance and plays a vital role in medicine and pharmaceutical supplies. With emerging computer technologies like blockchain and IoT cutting across several industries and sectors and revolutionizing the world, a systematic literature review of various articles chosen from different databases was carried out in this study to analyze and evaluate application areas of this technology in the pharmaceutical industry and existing frameworks that have been proposed to solve problems faced in the pharmaceutical industry. The outcome of this review showed that the application of the blockchain and IoT hybrid framework can assist in reducing the drug counterfeit problem and provide solutions to most of the problems faced in the pharmaceutical industry. This study also proposed a framework that addressed the drawbacks of existing frameworks in the pharmaceutical industry.
Purpose Adopting new technologies to improve supply chain activities and processes is essential due to increasingly complex and dynamic business environments. Particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, high-quality standards must be met, requiring transparency and visibility in the supply chain. This research aims at investigating the implementation of blockchain technology in the supply chain of an Egyptian pharmaceutical company. Design/methodology/approach The research applies a single case-study approach building on the theoretical underpinnings of transaction cost economics. Twenty-five semistructured interviews were conducted with pharmacies and employees of the case company to identify the blockchain technologies' potential for pharmaceutical supply in Egypt. Further analyzing the frequencies of the codes, the authors elaborate on specific relationships between the observed practices. Findings The research revealed the potential benefits of adopting blockchain technology. Transaction costs are indeed positively impacted by reduced contracting costs, processing costs and lead times, also ensuring the safe delivery of medications. However, the findings also highlight obstacles related to running costs, awareness and company culture. Regarding supply chain governance, blockchain technology can enhance collaboration within the supply chain as well as with important stakeholders. Practical implications Insufficient management of pharmaceutical supply chains (PSC) may affect a company's reputation but also disrupt the patient's healing process due to temperature damage and counterfeit medicines. Blockchain governance, in this vein, can ensure a safer and more reliable supply of pharmaceutical products. For intraorganizational purposes, however, cloud solutions, barcoding and generally digital platforms are rated more frequently than blockchain solutions. Originality/value The present study contributes to an advanced understanding how blockchain technology supports PSC, particularly in an emerging country context like Egypt. It thereby confirms and extends previous research as well as adds to the theoretical underpinnings of digitalized supply chains.
Consumer knowledge of the goods produced or processed by the numerous suppliers and processors is still relatively low due to the growing complexity of the structure of pharmaceutical supply chains. Information asymmetry in the pharmaceutical sector has an effect on welfare, sustainability, and health. (1) Background: In this respect, we wanted to develop a productive structure for a pharmaceutical supply chain that satisfies the consumer information needs and fosters consumer confidence in the pharmacy goods they buy. By using blockchain technology, the main goals were to develop and implement a pharmaceutical supply chain. (2) Objectives: The main objectives of this work were to leverage an Ethereum platform for the development of a tractability system in a pharmaceutical supply chain environment and to analyze the efficiency of MSMAChain with respect to the cost and execution of transactions based on our designed smart contracts. (3) Results: This research looked into a variety of issues related to the value, viability, and effects of blockchain technology for use in supply chain applications. The methods and creations in this environment were monitored and researched. It is vital to identify a number of crucial subjects including future research areas, in order to achieve the widespread acceptance of the supply chain traceability provided by blockchain technology. (4) Conclusions: MSMAChain, an Ethereum blockchain-based approach, leverages smart contracts and decentralized off-chain storage for efficient product traceability in terms of the cost and execution of transaction for a health care supply chain.
K M Ramya, L Rachana, Ranjita Kiran Naik, Rashmika Satish · 5 authors
Abstract: Medical product counterfeiting is one of the many major problems facing the healthcare sector. It is estimated that 10 to 30 percent of medical products sold are fake. Because they do not have access to quality healthcare, these issues are more prevalent in undeveloped and developing nations. As the healthcare supply chain is centralised and the procedure from the product's creation to its delivery to the user is opaque, it is challenging to identify counterfeit goods. As a result, the traceability of medicinal products becomes crucial. In addition to the difficulties of data privacy, data authenticity, and adaptability, traditional methods have not been very effective in resolving these problems. In this study, we reviewed several blockchain-based approaches for detecting fake medical items that employ the Ethereum blockchain, Hyperledger fabric, etc. The adoption of innovative ideas, like the inclusion of a QR code which enables customers to discover more about medical products are also studied. We also discuss the various architectures and techniques that are employed. The key challenges faced, and the research gaps are also analysed.
In the healthcare industry, providing a vital backbone for services is critical. The supply chain is a complex network that crosses organizational and geographical borders. In the healthcare business, counterfeit pills are one of the primary reasons for the harmful impact on human health and financial loss. Thus, pharmaceutical supply chains and end-to-end tracking systems are the recent research in healthcare. In this paper, the authors propose blockchain-based traceability of counterfeited drugs (BBTCD) that implements tracking of counterfeited drugs using smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. They offer a solution to fully decentralize the tracking by storing BBTCD on IPFS (inter planetary file system) to provide transparency and cost-effectiveness.
Mahesh Kumar, Lavish Kumar, Jai Jai, Yogesh Sharma
Counterfeit drugs are a major and growing concern globally, particularly during pandemics. One of the reasons for this is the inefficiency of the supply chain system in the pharmaceutical industry, which can make it difficult to trace the ownership of drugs from manufacturer to wholesaler, distributor, and pharmacist before it reaches the customer. In this study, we have evaluated different proposed blockchain-based supply chain management systems. The system that uses Hyperledger Fabric ensures data sharing, storage, transparency, and traceability in every stage of the supply chain. Meanwhile, the Ethereum architecture makes use of smart contracts to manage the communication between sender and receiver. The primary aim of the research is to improve the safety of pharmaceutical products and streamline supply chain operations with the most effective architecture. In addition to the benefits of transparency and traceability that blockchain technology can provide, it can also help to improve the overall efficiency and security of the supply chain. For example, by using smart contracts, automated processes can be put in place for the transfer of ownership and payment for drugs, reducing the need for manual intervention and reducing the risk of errors or fraud. Additionally, by creating a tamper-proof record of all transactions, blockchain technology can provide an auditable trail of the movement of drugs through the supply chain, which can be helpful for regulatory compliance and quality assurance. Furthermore, blockchain technology can also support the implementation of new business models in the pharmaceutical industry such as digitalized provenance records and tokenization of drugs to provide more transparency, security, and trust for the customer. It's worth noting that implementing blockchain technology in the pharmaceutical supply chain will require collaboration and cooperation between stakeholders in the industry, including manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, and regulators. With the right approach and collaboration, blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize the way that the pharmaceutical industry operates, making the supply chain more efficient, secure, and reliable, while also helping to reduce the risk of counterfeit drugs and protect public health.
Counterfeit drugs have long been a major concern. In search of a solution, this study conducted a systematic literature review. Using an automated content analysis of pharmaceutical blockchains, this study identifies the (1) unique characteristics of smart contracts on blockchain platforms in the pharmaceutical supply chain, (2) role of smart contracts to combat counterfeit drugs, and (3) avenues for future studies. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed at the end of this paper.
Jochen Heussner, Michael Paul Kramer, Jon Henrich Hanf
Wine fraud and counterfeiting is a problem that spans from entry level wines to cult bottles. It poses significant challenges such as impacting consumer trust and causing financial losses. The study explores potential blockchain-based applications used to prevent wine fraud. Responding to the research questions regarding how blockchain technology can help prevent wine fraud and what potential benefits and limitations may exist in this context, we performed a literature review and conducted an exploratory use case analysis of over 100 solutions. Our findings unveiled that only a few operationalized use cases exist. These are predominantly based on non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are employed for verification of authenticity purposes. We also found that the adoption is at an early stage. While the benefits of using blockchain are promising, further research should be performed to address its potential limitations within the organizational, technical, as well as legal and regulatory realms.
Blockchain technology can reduce the need for intermediaries in various types of transactions by providing a decentralized and secure ledger that can be accessed and updated by all parties involved in the transaction. Clinical trials are essential for bringing new drugs and therapies to market, but the current clinical research process is often marred by inefficiencies, data inaccuracies, and a lack of transparency. The implementation of blockchain technology in clinical trials has the potential to address these challenges by providing a secure and transparent platform for data management. By leveraging the power of blockchain, healthcare providers can improve the integrity and accuracy of clinical trial data, enhance trust in the clinical research process, and ultimately improve patient outcomes. In this article, we propose the use of blockchain technology in clinical trials and explore its potential benefits for the healthcare. The implementation of a blockchain-based data management system for clinical trials holds significant potential to address several challenges associated with the current clinical research process. By improving the integrity and security of medical data, enhancing trust, and easing regulatory burden, such a system can promote the efficient and effective conduct of clinical trials. The adoption of a blockchain-based solution for clinical trial data management has the potential to optimize costs, contributing to the sustainability of healthcare services. It also provides a model for future research and development of blockchain-based solutions in the field of clinical research.
Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare and Education
Saqib Ali, Waseem Anwar, Basim Juma Salem, Mohammed Al Dhuhli
In recent years, blockchain technology has emerged and gained considerable attention due to its reliability and secure data sharing capabilities in various domains such as supply chain management, finance, the internet of things, agriculture, food, healthcare, and pharmaceutical industries. The track of pharmaceutical supply chains has become more critical in the health society in any country or region to ensure the proper trackability and safety of medicines. With time, it has become more complex and costly to track thousands of various medical products. Without a proper supply chain system, there is a possibility of the availability of counterfeit drugs. Building a traceability system over a blockchain platform would provide a trusted and secured method to track and trace the medical supply chain from the manufacturer to the patient. This work proposes a traceability system for pharmaceutical products in Oman using blockchain technology to maintain the integrity of the data of such sensitive valuable products. In addition to this, different pharmaceutical workflows have been designed and implemented using the Ethereum blockchain platform.
Multi-stakeholder and organizational involvement is an integral part of the medicine supply chain. Keeping track of the activities associated with medical products is difficult when the system is complex. Their complexity limits transparency and data provenance. Deficiencies within existing supply chains result in the counterfeiting of drugs, illegal imports, and inefficient operations. Due to these limitations, product integrity is compromised, resulting in product wastage. Visibility of the entire product supply chain is crucial for the pharmaceutical industry in terms of product safety and reduction of manufacturing costs. The Cloud-based Blockchain-powered architecture of the system provides a platform for addressing the need of pharma-material traceability, data storage, privacy of data, and quality assurance. This framework comprises of the identification of activities through tagging, information sharing in a secure environment; cloud-based storage using an off-chain Interplanetary File System (IPFS) and an on-chain couch DB; and access to this information that is controlled by the system's regulator. Electronic drug records will be accessed via a smart contract in Hyperledger Blockchain. The system assists in identifying false and cross-border products through the manufacturer and country of origin. A scan will identify counterfeit medications, showing that they are unauthorized products which may pose a risk to patients. Our experiments demonstrated the efficiency and usability of the design platform. Finally, we benchmarked the system using Hyperledger Caliper.
The Blockchain technology uses different type of database that transact data in blocks and then chained each data blocks. When data fills one block, it is chained the same data onto previous block therefore, all the data blocks are stored in chronological order. The blockchain technology can help to ensure that data in supply chain is reliable, accurate and can be shared with all stakeholders without any manipulation. It makes supply chain more transparent and end-to-end digital visibility of data source. Blockchain is stringent technology which fill the gap between stakeholders by providing transparent unmanipulated and truthful data in supply chain. There are many initiatives has been taken by multiple regulatory bodies with partnering with supply chain stakeholders including pharmaceutical manufacturer, distributors and dispensers. In USA, Food and Drug Administration’s regulatory body Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) initiated pilot program in 2019 with the partnership of leading pharmaceuticals distributors to authenticating saleable returns to distributor from supply chain partners. DSCSA used MediLedger blockchain interoperable technology for process evaluation and it robustness for mitigating risk of drug counterfeiting possibilities in supply chain. The DSCSA found that pilot project was successful and results were astonishing. Later it was declared that blockchain technology can also be used for meeting DSCSA’s 2023 Act for unit level traceability.
Abhijeet Ghadge, Michael Bourlakis, Sachin Kamble, Stefan Seuring
Research on Blockchain implementation in the Pharmaceutical Supply Chains (PSC) is lacking despite its strong potential to overcome conventional supply chain challenges. Thus, this study aims to provide critical insight into the nexus between Blockchain and PSC and further build a conceptual framework for implementation within the pharmaceutical industry. Following a systematic literature review and text mining approach, 65 interdisciplinary articles published between 2010 and 2021 were studied to capture the decade long developments. Descriptive and thematic analysis showcases nascent developments of Blockchain in PSC. The drivers and barriers to adoption, implementation stages, and applications identified through the thematic analysis guide in setting the agenda for future research, primarily focussing on the use of Blockchain for drug counterfeiting, recall issues, along with other sector-specific challenges such as patient privacy, regulations and clinical trials. Research on Blockchain for PSC has been slow compared to other sectors, but has accelerated since the Covid-19 pandemic. Identified influential factors, implementation process and apparent applications are expected to influence researchers and practitioners in developing a roadmap for adopting Blockchain in the pharmaceutical industry. The proposed conceptual framework is novel and provides valuable directions to producers, regulators and governments to implement Blockchain in the pharmaceutical industry.
Supply chain management in healthcare sector plays significant role in the lives of people. Presence of intermediaries and lack of traceability has lured it towards drug counterfeiting, which reduces drug efficacy, thus hampering patients' trust and putting their lives in danger. Blockchain has emerged as a groundbreaking technology which provide a system that is immutable and transparent without the requirement of a trusted third party. This paper depicts how blockchain can provide a solution to reduce drug counterfeit in the pharmaceutical supply chain. This is achieved by creating a Blockchain Network in which each participant and the drug is registered to maintain transparency of transactions among all the participants. Realtime transfer of ownership in the blockchain creates all-round visibility among the registered participants to retrieve information like the current owner, timestamp of ownership transfer and authenticity of drugs. This paper implements PharmaChain for real-time traceability and trackability information of drugs from end-to-end of the pharmaceutical supply chain.
Pharmaceutical supply chains are complex structures that include various participants. Furthermore, blockchains are viewed as a promising solution to increase effectiveness and overcome some of the main challenges in these supply chains-especially lack of trust. The European Union (EU) set strict rules in the domain of pharmaceutical supply chains in order to protect patient safety and public health. In addition, blockchains bring legal requirements. Among these requirements, personal data protection is of utmost importance. This is because, as has been argued for years, blockchains and the EU data protection regime are in conflict by their natures. However, it is also claimed that when rightly designed and combined with other technological solutions, blockchains potentially offer great opportunities to enhance data protection. Nevertheless, potential for blockchains in the pharmaceutical supply chain is not yet been realized as most use cases are in the proof of concept or pilot stage. This article examines the debates surrounding blockchains and data protection. The goal is to draw constructive conclusions on whether blockchain solutions can be designed in data protection-enhancing ways and whether this might help realize the potential for blockchain in pharmaceutical supply chains-particularly by creating trust. For this purpose, the example of an ongoing EU-funded innovative research project called PharmaLedger as a case study to concretize its theoretical examinations is examined. This project is chosen because it gathers a wide variety of stakeholders representing different interests and aims to create a digital trust ecosystem in health care by providing a widely trusted platform that supports the design and adoption of blockchain-enabled healthcare solutions while accelerating the delivery of innovation that benefits the entire ecosystem from manufacturers to patients.
Corinne Sim, Haisheng Zhang, Marianne Louise Chang
Regulating and monitoring a traditionally fragmented pharma supply chain has been a global challenge for decades. Without a trusted system and strong collaboration between stakeholders, threats such as counterfeits can easily intercept the supply chain and cause monumental disruptions. Today, the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for greater data transparency, better deployment of technology, and improved ways of connecting stakeholder information along the supply chain. There is a need for improved ways of working to help build up supply chain resilience, and one way is by implementing better end-to-end traceability using blockchain technology such as Hyperledger Fabric. This paper will explore the business value that blockchain brings to the pharma supply chain with better end-to-end traceability, with the example of an industry-grade blockchain solution called eZTracker. Through six key features, pharmaceutical manufacturers, patients, and Healthcare Practitioners (HCPs) can now participate in data-sharing, with extended use cases of integrating blockchain with warehouse platforms, a patient-facing mobile application, and an interactive dashboard for real-time verification and data transparency. Beyond anti-counterfeit verification, other potential use cases include effective product recall management, cold chain monitoring, e-product information and more. The effectiveness of a traceability solution is heavily dependent on the amount of data collected and is affected by poor adoption and scalability. Existing limitations that need to be addressed include the lack of mandated serialisation in Asia and blockchain interoperability. To maximise the value of blockchain, collaboration is key. Pharmaceutical manufacturers need to invest in new technologies such as blockchain, to help them break out of data silos, and operationalise data to build supply chain resilience.