Medications are faked as often as any other type of production. However, as opposed to other products, the forged remedy can not only show no effect whatsoever but also significantly harm the patient’s health.

It is estimated that 1 million people die because of counterfeit medications. The World Health Organization has reported that approximately 10% of all medicine in the world is forged. It relates mostly to locations such as North America, Asia, and Europe.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has estimated that the counterfeit medical sector costs more than $200 billion yearly. Compare this figure with the illegal drug trade, which is worth near $250 billion.

Medical blockchain technology can help reduce risks caused by fake remedy, and consequently, save lots of people’s lives.

Blockchain Solution

Each transaction written into a certain block is recorded and cannot be changed in any way. In such a manner, pharmacists are able to retrace each stage of a product’s delivery – from the manufacturer’s storage to end buyer.

Blockchains with both public and private access can be used in that case. The private type of access is more preferable as it simply does not let in any cheats forging the medication.

Why is blockchain more beneficial for the solution of that problem as opposed to conventional means?

The blockchain technology, in turn, makes it practically impossible to change information stored in its sections. It can, additionally, help the pharmacists identify on which stage the violation was made in the case of detecting a low-quality product.

Recently, SAP, a German technology company, has introduced a blockchain healthcare software for eliminating the counterfeit drugs.

According to SAP’s new blockchain-based product, pharmaceutical producers have to indicate the data about the medicine on the ledger. They have to direct XML messages through the SAP environment which will then make these messages emerge on blockchain.

The data on blockchain will be kept in SAP’s cloud and will be accessible for all supply chain participants. Thus, no third parties could access, copy, or modify it.

Another blockchain software is AsliMedicine. This solution aims to trace the medication through the entire healthcare chain, ensure its integrity, and identify fakes.

This software best suits medicine manufactures. Blockchain-based AsliMedicine provides them with a unique coding model for each drug at the item level. Any data can be input: quantity, location, manufacturer name, asset ID, etc. This helps trace medicine for detecting counterfeit units.