In Pharma Brand is Everything - Can Blockchain Help You Maintain it?
Blockchain and Brand Protection - ServBlock
Theoretically and practically, blockchain technology has legal implications to combat the proliferation of fake drugs. Automated drug tracking systems can help to prevent the spread of counterfeit medicines by tracking each package's unique coding. In the pharmacy, blockchain technology could create a reliable system of legislative safeguard to ensure the delivery and tracking of medicinal products. Moreover, such a system might allow for significantly simplifying pharmaceutical product audits and controls. Here are some studies which reveal legal benefits of blockchain technology in the pharmaceutical industry. ServBlock utilizes the R3 Corda next-gen, open-source blockchain platform explicitly designed with highly regulated institutions in mind.
1. Counterfeit Drug Elimination
One previous study states that huge pharmaceutical giants such as Pfizer and Genentech collectively have a market valuation of more than $300 billion and announced the blockchain project. The Quorum platform, based on Ethereum, forms the basis for it, and the reason for developing a blockchain is to prevent counterfeit goods' access to the supply chain. In addition, the new Ethereum system will let pharmaceutical companies identify poor-quality drugs before they reach the supply chain.
2. Trust and Transparency
Another study reveals the legal benefit of blockchain technology, which makes it possible to share data without compromising users' right to privacy, and pharmacists can use blockchain to verify the provenance of a medication. By confirming the source of medicinal supplies, blockchain could offer pharmacists adequate patient safety assurance. Additionally, Blockchain technology also enables the creation of new decisions to manage the movement of medications, particularly in terms of temperature regime compliance that must be followed during drug transfer. Because of this, in January of 2018, the pharmaceutical giants Pfizer, Amgen, and Sanofi launched a blockchain platform for clinical trials with the goal of reducing the cost of creating and testing new pharmaceuticals.
Even though blockchain technology's investment is minimal, it's still a big deal, rapidly increasing in size. There are many examples of blockchain platforms used by IBM and Microsoft in their customer service systems. Additionally, many large corporations are actively pursuing blockchain technology and how it might benefit their business. For example, Walmart Paying for products online and accepts payments from vendors and uses blockchain technology to improve their products and customer service.
3. Better Clinical Research Quality
Benchoufi and Ravaud have provided an explanation of how blockchain technology can be used to improve clinical research quality. Healthcare data is very valuable and is susceptible to numerous forms of attacks. MedShare is another concept that aims to leverage blockchain technology in the health care industry to transmit medical data from one institution to another in a trusted environment. Blockchain is now the most reliable method for providing cyber security in the 21st century, and there have been no known vulnerabilities discovered in it. Because it is meant to prevent any one individual from changing the data and transactions, blockchain has the potential to boost levels of trust and assist in removing the bias that is present in conventional supply chain systems.
Another implication of blockchain technology is that if barcode-tagged medicines are scanned and placed into secure digital blocks whenever they change hands, blockchain might provide substantial advantages. Even patients at the other end of the supply chain might access this real-time information at any time. According to researchers, Digital technology has been one of the significant drives shaping our businesses and lifestyles. Our healthcare supply chain could be significantly affected by the use of blockchain technology. As blockchain is integrated into the mainstream healthcare supply chain, it is critical that all stakeholders, including pharmacies, understand the possible consequences and be strategically positioned to evaluate and potentially accept "fast-moving" commercial applications.
References
Pashkov, V., & Soloviov, O. (n.d.). Legal implementation of blockchain technology in pharmacy. https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/20196801027
Haq, I., & Muselemu, O. (2018). Blockchain Technology in Pharmaceutical Industry to Prevent Counterfeit Drugs. International Journal of Computer Applications, 180, 8–12. https://doi.org/10.5120/ijca2018916579
