scholarly journals Securing Pharmaceutical Supply Chain using Blockchain Technology

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 01013
Author(s):  
Vishwesh Lingayat ◽  
Isha Pardikar ◽  
Shubham Yewalekar ◽  
Shyamal Khachane ◽  
Sachin Pande
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Pharmaceutical Products ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Smart Contracts ◽  
Counterfeit Drugs ◽  
Supply Chain System ◽  
Pharmaceutical Supply Chain ◽  
Manual Operation ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Production And Distribution

The production and distribution of counterfeit drugs is an urgent and increasingly critical worldwide issue, especially in pandemics. The imperfect supply chain system in the pharmaceutical industry is one of the reasons for drug counterfeiting. Drugs ownership changes from manufacturers to wholesaler, distributor, and then pharmacist before it reaches the customer thus making it difficult to keep track of it. In this paper, we have compared the existing proposed architectures of blockchain and IoT based supply chain management systems. The system implemented using hyper ledger fabric ensures sharing, storing, transparency, and traceability of data in each link of the supply chain. On the other hand, Ethereum architecture utilized the features of smart contracts to manage the interactions between sender and receiver. Finally, the study mainly focuses on increasing the safety of pharmaceutical products and reducing the manual operation of the supply chain with the most efficient architecture.

scholarly journals Blockchain technology in the pharmaceutical supply chain: researching a business model based on Hyperledger Fabric

2019 ◽  
pp. 134-140
Author(s):  
S R Bryatov ◽  
A A Borodinov
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Control System ◽  
Pharmaceutical Products ◽  
Pharmaceutical Companies ◽  
Counterfeit Drugs ◽  
Development Environment ◽  
Pharmaceutical Supply Chain ◽  
Russian Market ◽  
Medical Products ◽  
Blockchain Technology

Pharmaceutical companies that manufacture, ship and supply products face difficulties in tracking their products, allowing counterfeiters to inject counterfeit drugs into the system. This situation is observed, in particular, in the Russian market of turnover of pharmaceutical products, although the problem has long been global. The ability of blockchain systems to pinpoint the origin of data makes them particularly suitable for pharmaceutical supply chain applications. The data stored in the blockchain distributed register on the identification of drugs produced by the plant, as well as records of their movements throughout the supply chain, can accurately determine the authenticity of pharmaceutical products lying on the shelves of pharmacies. The development and implementation of such a system can be a big step towards winning the exhausting fight against the easy availability of counterfeit drugs and medical products. In the first part of this work, the main characteristics and features of the functioning of blockchain systems will be studied. In the second and final part, the designed concept of the pharmaceutical turnover control system based on the blockchain technology Hyperledger Fabric using the Hyperledger Composer development environment will be investigated.

Applications of Operations Research in Production and Distribution Management of Pharmaceutical Products

2017 ◽  
pp. 49-77
Author(s):  
Mahsa Yousefi Sarmad ◽  
Mir Saman Pishvaee
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Pharmaceutical Industry ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Pharmaceutical Products ◽  
Pharmaceutical Supply Chain ◽  
Distribution Management ◽  
Global Industry ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Business Entities

Pharmaceutical industry is considered as a global industry because of its effects on the human life. Many researchers used optimization tools to manage the pharmaceutical supply chain (PSC) efficiently. A supply chain may be defined as an integrated process where several business entities work together to produce goods and/or services and deliver them to the end customer. The issue of PSC which includes strategic, tactical and operational decisions, is still a quite hot issue. The intended mission of this chapter is to introduce and discuss the recent developments of procurement, production and distribution management of pharmaceutical products in order to pave the way for the readers who are interested in this area of research. Notably, the focus of the chapter is on quantitative OR-based models which enable the decision makers to appropriately coordinate and manage the whole pharmaceutical industry.

scholarly journals The Pandemic and the Supply Chain: Gaps in Pharmaceutical Production and Distribution

2021 ◽  
pp. e1-e5
Author(s):  
Mariana P. Socal ◽  
Joshua M. Sharfstein ◽  
Jeremy A. Greene
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Acute Stress ◽  
Pharmaceutical Products ◽  
New Drugs ◽  
Pharmaceutical Supply Chain ◽  
The Us ◽  
Production And Distribution ◽  
To Come ◽  
Pharmaceutical Production

The acute stress of the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare a series of long-term weaknesses in the US public health system, including the fragility of our supply of essential medications.1 The virus produced unprecedented shifts in demand for old as well as new drugs, while simultaneously introducing new uncertainties about the production and distribution of pharmaceutical products. COVID-19–related shortages extended beyond antivirals to include a range of drugs broadly used in intensive care and in general hospital management (Table 1). These shortages point to serious vulnerabilities in the pharmaceutical supply chain that compromise readiness for new waves of the current pandemic and crises that are yet to come. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print January 28, 2021: e1–e5. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.306138 )

scholarly journals A Novel Medical Blockchain Model for Drug Supply Chain Integrity Management in a Smart Hospital

Electronics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Faisal Jamil ◽  
Lei Hang ◽  
KyuHyung Kim ◽  
DoHyeun Kim
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Drug Supply ◽  
Counterfeit Drugs ◽  
Pharmaceutical Supply Chain ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Smart Healthcare ◽  
Drug Regulations ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
Drug Supply Chain

At present, in pharmacology one of the most serious problems is counterfeit drugs. The Health Research Funding organization reported that in developing countries, nearly 10–30% of the drugs are fake. Counterfeiting is not the main issue itself, but, rather, the fact that, as compared to traditional drugs, these counterfeit drugs produce different side effects to human health. According to WHO, around 30% of the total medicine sold in Africa, Asia, and Latin America is counterfeit. This is the major worldwide problem, and the situation is worse in developing countries, where one out of every 10 medicines are either fake or do not follow drug regulations. The rise of Internet pharmacies has made it more difficult to standardize drug safety. It is difficult to detect counterfeits because these drugs pass through different complex distributed networks, thus forming opportunities for counterfeits to enter the authentic supply chain. The safety of the pharmaceutical supply chain has become a major concern for public health, which is a collective process. In this paper, we propose a novel drug supply chain management using Hyperledger Fabric based on blockchain technology to handle secure drug supply chain records. The proposed system solves this problem by conducting drug record transactions on a blockchain to create a smart healthcare ecosystem with a drug supply chain. A smart contract is launched to give time-limited access to electronic drug records and also patient electronic health records. We also carried out a number of experiments in order to demonstrate the usability and efficiency of the designed platform. Finally, we used Hyperledger Caliper as a benchmarking tool to conduct the performance of the designed system in terms of transactions per second, transaction latency, and resource utilization.

scholarly journals The Nigerian Pharmaceutical Supply Chain: Blockchain Adoption, Counterfeit Drugs and Successful Deployment of COVID-19 Vaccine in Nigeria

2021 ◽  
pp. 20-36
Author(s):  
Muhammad Jameel Labaran ◽  
Mansur Hamma-Adama
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Distribution System ◽  
Drug Distribution ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Regulatory Agencies ◽  
Counterfeit Drugs ◽  
Pharmaceutical Supply Chain ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Drug Regulatory Agencies ◽  
High Level

Aim: Critically investigating the possibility of adopting blockchain technology within the Nigerian pharmaceutical supply chain to curb the supply of counterfeit drugs. Study Design: The study is qualitative in nature and the primary data were fetched through interviews. Place and Duration of the Study: Conducted within Nigeria for a period of 3 months. Methodology: A qualitative method of data collection was adopted in the study, where some stakeholders were interviewed. The interviews were conducted with employees from different pharmaceutical companies and some drug regulatory agencies in Nigeria. Result: Firstly, this study has ascertained the current prevalence of counterfeit drugs and the reasons for that. The study discovers a very high level of counterfeit drugs and some reasons behind that. Secondly, this study has also found some barriers to blockchain adoption, including the fact that the level of awareness of blockchain technology among stakeholders within the Nigerian pharmaceutical supply chain and the regulatory agencies is very low. Conclusion: It was concluded that the efforts put in developing a viable COVID-19 vaccine could be undermined due to the current nature of the Nigerian pharmaceutical supply chain, the nature of porous borders in place, absence of an apparent drug distribution system, among others.  This study also concludes that the supply chain's current structure needs more regulatory and structural interventions by the Nigerian government than blockchain technology. In other words, with the current nature of the supply chain, blockchain technology adoption would not be effective in delivering the said benefits reported by scholars because the atmosphere is not conducive for successful blockchain adoption.

scholarly journals Third Party Certification of Agri-Food Supply Chain Using Smart Contracts and Blockchain Tokens

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (16) ◽  
pp. 5307
Author(s):  
Ricardo Borges dos Santos ◽  
Nunzio Marco Torrisi ◽  
Rodrigo Palucci Pantoni
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Mobile Application ◽  
Consumer Behaviour ◽  
Economic Incentives ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Smart Contracts ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
The Public ◽  
Blockchain Technology

Every consumer’s buying decision at the supermarket influences food brands to make first party claims of sustainability and socially responsible farming methods on their agro-product labels. Fine wines are often subject to counterfeit along the supply chain to the consumer. This paper presents a method for efficient unrestricted publicity to third party certification (TPC) of plant agricultural products, starting at harvest, using smart contracts and blockchain tokens. The method is capable of providing economic incentives to the actors along the supply chain. A proof-of-concept using a modified Ethereum IGR token set of smart contracts using the ERC-1155 standard NFTs was deployed on the Rinkeby test net and evaluated. The main findings include (a) allowing immediate access to TPC by the public for any desired authority by using token smart contracts. (b) Food safety can be enhanced through TPC visible to consumers through mobile application and blockchain technology, thus reducing counterfeiting and green washing. (c) The framework is structured and maintained because participants obtain economical incentives thus leveraging it´s practical usage. In summary, this implementation of TPC broadcasting through tokens can improve transparency and sustainable conscientious consumer behaviour, thus enabling a more trustworthy supply chain transparency.

scholarly journals A literature review on multi-echelon inventory management: the case of pharmaceutical supply chain

2018 ◽  
Vol 200 ◽  
pp. 00013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nouçaiba Sbai ◽  
Abdelaziz Berrado
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Customer Service ◽  
Inventory Management ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Service Level ◽  
Pharmaceutical Products ◽  
Management Problem ◽  
Pharmaceutical Supply Chain ◽  
Customer Service Level

Inventory management remains a key challenge in supply chain management. Many companies recognize the benefits of a good inventory management system. An effective inventory management helps reaching a high customer service level while dealing with demand variability. In a complex supply chain network where inventories are found across the entire system as raw materials or finished products, the need for an integrated approach for managing inventory had become crucial. Modelling the system as a multi-echelon inventory system allows to consider all the factors related to inventory optimization. On the other hand, the high criticality of the pharmaceutical products makes the need for a sophisticated supply chain inventory management essential. The implementation of the multi-echelon inventory management in such supply chains helps keeping the stock of pharmaceutical products available at the different installations. This paper provides an insight into the multi-echelon inventory management problem, especially in the pharmaceutical supply chain. A classification of several multi-echelon inventory systems according to a set of criteria is provided. A synthesis of multiple multi-echelon pharmaceutical supply chain problems is elaborated.

scholarly journals Leveraging Blockchain Technology to Enhance Supply Chain Management in Healthcare:

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin A. Clauson ◽  
Elizabeth A. Breeden ◽  
Cameron Davidson ◽  
Timothy K. Mackey
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chain Management ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Grey Literature ◽  
Data Provenance ◽  
Pharmaceutical Supply Chain ◽  
Chain Management ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Safety And Health

Background: Effective supply chain management is a challenge in every sector, but in healthcare there is added complexity and risk as a compromised supply chain in healthcare can directly impact patient safety and health outcomes. One potential solution for improving security, integrity, data provenance, and functionality of the health supply chain is blockchain technology. Objectives: Provide an overview of the opportunities and challenges associated with blockchain adoption and deployment for the health supply chain, with a focus on the pharmaceutical supply, medical device and supplies, Internet of Healthy Things (IoHT), and public health sectors. Methods: A narrative review was conducted of the academic literature, grey literature, and industry publications, in addition to identifying and characterizing select stakeholders engaged in exploring blockchain solutions for the health supply chain. Results: Critical challenges in protecting the integrity of the health supply chain appear well suited for adoption of blockchain technology. Use cases are emerging, including using blockchain to combat counterfeit medicines, securing medical devices, optimizing functionality of IoHT, and improving the public health supply chain. Despite these clear opportunities, most blockchain initiatives remain in proof-of-concept or pilot phase. Conclusion: Blockchain technology has the unrealized promise to help improve the health supply chain, but further study, evaluation and alignment with policy mechanisms is needed. Keywords: Blockchain, Distributed Ledger, Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical, Supply chain  

scholarly journals Evaluation of Decentralized Verifiable Credentials to Authenticate Authorized Trading Partners and Verify Drug Provenance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghada L. Ashkar ◽  
Kalpan s. Patel ◽  
Josenor De Jesus ◽  
Nikkhil Vinnakota ◽  
Natalie Helms ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Prescription Drugs ◽  
Single Point ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Business Relationship ◽  
Counterfeit Drugs ◽  
Pharmaceutical Supply Chain ◽  
Pharmaceutical Manufacturers ◽  
Trading Partners ◽  
Drug Supply Chain

Summary: In 2013, the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA) was signed into law to address the growing threat of counterfeit drugs and to ensure prescription drugs remain safe and effective for patients. As part of this law, US pharmaceutical supply chain stakeholders are required to confirm the authorized status of trading partners for transactions and information disclosures, even when there is no prior business relationship. While larger Authorized Trading Partners (ATPs) have connectivity solutions in place, newer and smaller ATPs have not traditionally participated, including tens of thousands of dispensers. To unlock the full potential of the interoperable system mandated by the DSCSA, the authors tested eXtended ATP (XATP), a blockchain-backed framework for ATP authentication and enhanced verification in a real-world pharmacy with genuine drug packages. The objective of this research study was to prove that electronic authentication and enhanced verification can be achieved between ATPs using a mobile-based solution. Moreover, we tested accurate reading of drug and associated electronic med guides, flagging of expired and recalled drugs, and correct generation of documentation to support saleable returns. Methods: This study involved two dispensers and three participating manufacturers. Dispensers were onboarded to a mobile application and used supporting documentation to authenticate their identities, and then scanned 2D drug barcodes to submit drug verification requests to manufacturers (including 11 additional, randomly selected manufacturers). Genuine and synthetic drug package barcodes were used to test workflows against genuine and synthetic manufacturer serialization data records. Manufacturers authenticated the identity of requesting dispensers with verifiable credentials and responded to verification requests. Results: Enhanced drug verification was achieved, with 100% of requests successfully delivered to participating manufacturers and 88% of requests being delivered to other manufacturers (based on the pharmacist selection of random packages from the pharmacy). Drug verification matching against synthetic serialization data records resulted in 86% accuracy, with the 14% error rate attributed to human factors. All barcodes were successfully scanned and provided package-accurate data, and 97% of randomly selected packages successfully generated drug package inserts. All synthetic recalls and expired drugs were successfully flagged. Four of the manufacturers contacted were among the top 15 pharmaceutical manufacturers globally; all four responded. Conclusions: The XATP framework provides a secure, reliable, and seamless remote method to conduct enhanced verification as required by law. Interoperability between manufacturers and dispensers with no prior business relationship can be achieved on ‘day zero’ using mobile devices that enable digital authentication and rapid barcode scanning. As users retain control of their own private keys, the framework also mitigates the single-point-of-attack risks associated with centrally managed systems.

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