Fake or Genuine: How Do I Confirm the Authenticity of Medicines?

We all go through usual episodes of cough, cold, fevers and at times a little extreme as well. While these episodes of ailments do evoke anxiety within us, has the thought of the medicines you consumed being substandard or even fake ever crossed your mind? Perhaps no…..not even once for most of us. Today, the market for fake and counterfeit drugs has become a highly profitable multi-billion-dollar industry.

To add to our woes, scrutinizing or checking the authenticity of the medicines you consume isn’t something easy that too at a user-level. This is because; it would require complex analysis of these drugs within the walls of well-equipped laboratory. But what if you find a way to track the entire journey of the drug that you are consuming right from the manufacturer to the end-user.

Since, technology has always been the cornerstone of innovation, it has also been leveraged to resolve the menace created as a result of counterfeit medicines. However, there still exists the need for a tech solution that not just fills in the gaps left by the current system but also provides the consumers with a solution that can help them verify the authenticity of medicines purchased by them.

Blockchain — a shared ledger technology offers consumers with an end-to-end supply chain visibility regarding the status of the product during its transit within the supply chain network. Like any other stakeholder on the Blockchain network, customers will be able to track and trace the provenance of drugs/medicines right from the point of sourcing of components for drug manufacturing to the shelves of pharmacy.

Within a Blockchain network, every batch (including individual pieces) are tokenized following which unique smart codes are generated. This is supported by tamperproof timestamps (cryptographically enabled) to add additional layer of security. So, every time a consumer wishes to track the genuineness of medicines purchased by them, they can easily gather the details of the drug/medicine by scanning the unique code, which is promptly sent to them via mobile app on request.

So, we can infer that in the near future, Blockchain will not just eradicate spurious medicines from reaching innocent consumers but will also provide them a reliable way to determine the authenticity of a medicine they wish to purchase.

Find out more at — Blockchain for Pharmaceuticals