Blockchain-Enabled Pharmaceutical Cold Chain:
Blockchain-Enabled Pharmaceutical Cold Chain: Applications, Key Challenges, And Future Trends
Do you know what is colder than Antarctica? Its temperature requirement for Moderna and Pfizer vaccines is -70 C for them to remain viable for an extended period. Cold storage facilities are one of the crucial and weakest links in the pharmaceutical supply chain. If someone is familiar with the pharma supply chain, they would quickly understand that it is one of the most sophisticated yet complex systems where everything and anything has the potential to go wrong. Everything is vulnerable, from maintaining a regular inventory to exiting the drug from the storehouse to transit and, of course, the cold chain.
When people talk about supply chain risk, they usually think of the sheer volume and the associated delays, but the difficulties in the cold pharmaceutical chain are different. Because the cold chain is complicated and highly fragile, and any temperature change can harm its quality and efficacy or even destroy it, one of the primary issues is keeping it safe and avoiding manipulation from both the outside and within. The blockchain pokes its head out here. Blockchain has become a household name and terminology used nowadays for the cryptocurrency industry, and it is most commonly characterized as a parallel transaction mechanism. The three qualities of blockchain that inspire people's trust are:
● Transparency
● Security
● Traceability
There are also three most prized features in cold chain management, particularly in the pharmaceutical supply chain. So, how can ServBlock & blockchain aid in developing the cold pharmaceutical chain?
The solution is that the cold chain is not a standalone structural component of the pharmaceutical supply chain; it is connected and contains many components, the bulk of which are not humans but sensors, Internet of Things (IoT) components, and communication between those components. This communication is primarily concerned with maintaining precise quality control, temperature, inventory data, and medication position on the network.
Now that the system is susceptible, any change in the process, whether due to equipment breakdown or exposure to hackers, will have disastrous consequences. However, with the emergence of blockchain technology, systems that have been switched to the decentralized node system are deemed more reliable, transparent, and hack-safe because no data or malicious code can modify the end-to-end encryption between the warehouse and the client. This guarantees that everything on the network is constantly traceable and online and that each change is digitally recorded and sent to all stakeholders.
This also assures that every temperature-sensitive consignment is traceable, lives on location, and can be monitored from its origin point to the customer, in this case, hospitals. As we began this article with an example of Pfizer and modern developing extremely sensitive to temperature vaccines for COVID-19, imagine what could be accomplished if the blockchain replaced the traditional protection and tracking mechanism, temperature control, and product delivery; it would save millions of lives by reducing delays, producing a more transparent system for consumers, and bringing more research that is currently lacking. As the world moves toward more integrated solutions to current challenges, the opportunities for blockchain are immense.
Recent advancements and developments in blockchain applications have ushered in a new era of development and application, merging IoT with super protection, control, and traceability. This is also why the system will be successful. It is not just focused on supplying products but also strengthening the bonds between all stakeholders, often overlooked in traditional systems.
To summarize, blockchain has grown as the ultimate answer to the numerous inherent challenges of the cold pharmaceutical chain, bringing more incredible innovation, transparency, and speed.
References:
● Bamakan, S. M. H., Moghaddam, S. G., & Manshadi, S. D. (2021). Blockchain-enabled pharmaceutical cold chain: Applications, key challenges, and future trends. Journal of Cleaner Production, 302, 127021.
● Bamakan, S. M. H., Moghaddam, S. G., & Manshadi, S. D. (2021). Blockchain-enabled pharmaceutical cold chain: Applications, key challenges, and future trends. Journal of Cleaner Production, 302, 127021.
● Mendonça, R. D., Gomes, O. S., Vieira, L. F., Vieira, M. A., Vieira, A. B., & Nacif, J. A. (2021). Blockcoldchain: Vaccine cold chain blockchain. arXiv preprint arXiv:2104.14357.
● Kim, S., & Kim, D. (2018). Design of an innovative blood cold chain management system using blockchain technologies. ICIC Express Letters, Part B: Applications, 9(10), 1067-1073.
