Hyperledger explores blockchain technology to combat counterfeit drugs

During a working group meeting of the Hyperledger blockchain project on April 18, a representative from global professional services firm Accenture spoke about a project that is in its early stages to use blockchain technology to combat counterfeit pharmaceuticals.

The working group presented the project in detail during the discussion of the project requirements.

Primrose Mbanefo, device connectivity software lead at Accenture, a consulting firm, worked with the firm’s IoT business development team to build a proof of concept for the company. She believes that using immutable data can more effectively track the whereabouts of drugs and improve accountability in the pharmaceutical industry.

Mbanefo said:

"If we can get the drug data and prove that the data files haven't been altered, we can say that the drugs really came from the factory they came from."

A key point of contention at the conference was how to define what constitutes counterfeiting in the pharmaceutical industry, which Mbanefo said includes both “rogue” manufacturers and companies that produce drugs without the correct amount of active ingredients or even without them.

She said:

“If we can have a supply chain that we trust, the process will be clear.”

The use of distributed timestamps to distinguish counterfeit drugs is convincing enough.

Last June, the UK seized 6.2 million doses of medicines and medical devices worth £15.8 million in a crackdown on counterfeit medicines. According to the BBC, a total of £51.6 million worth of counterfeit pharmaceutical goods were seized worldwide in that operation.

The problem of counterfeit drug control is just one of the supply chain use cases that Hyperledger Project members are observing.

Other potential applications of blockchain in the supply chain include tracking the manufacturers and assembly of computer parts, assessing the quality of dairy products for shipment and sale, and confirming the accuracy of food labels.

Original article: http://www.coindesk.com/hyperledger-counterfeit-drugs-blockchain/
By Michael del Castillo
Compiled by: Kyle
Source (translation): Babbitt Information (http://www.8btc.com/hyperledger-fight-counterfeit-drug)