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Fake Drugs and Block Chain technology

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September 07, 2018

Why in news?

Recently the drug regulator of Rajasthan found certain medicines to be fake which is a part of the counterfeit drugs industry in the country.

What are the problems that arise due to Fake drugs?

  • According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 35 % of the fake drugs sold globally come from India.
  • In low and middle income countries like India, one in 10 medical products (pills, vaccines, injectables) in circulation are either substandard or fake.
  • The substandard or fake drugs promote anti-microbial resistance in people.
  • Spurious drugs make pharma companies incur huge revenue losses.
  • According to industry body Assocham, in 2015, the value of the counterfeit drug industry in India was pegged at around Rs 150 billion
  • It was almost 25 % of the total worth of the global pharma industry.

What are the ways to check the fake drugs?

  • So far the efforts to combat the proliferation of fake drugs have been through traditional means — via tip-offs and surprise raids.
  • The current methods of weeding out counterfeit drugs are quite archaic.
  • Still the method of sampling is only used to verify the genuineness of drugs.

What is the latest development?

  • Niti Aayog, in collaboration with Oracle Technologies and Apollo Hospitals, is working on a technology.
  • The technology will leverage blockchain technology to overcome the counterfeit drug problem.
  • Oracle is developing the app through which the consumer will be able to scan the bar code of a medicine
  • By scanning we will know about its manufacturer, the date of production, its path of transport and the date it reached the retailer.
  • Hence, the consumer can check if the medicine is genuine or not before buying it.
  • The technology will work all long the entire supply chain so as to ensure that no fake drugs enter the system.

How does it work?

  • The tracing and tracking of pharmaceutical products is done with the help of new age technologies like blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT).
  • Fake drugs enter into the supply chain as Pharma sector is heavily dependent on logistics.
  • Consignments of drugs will be tracked remotely through the use of IoT to check the entry of fake drugs.
  • The data captured through IoT will be sent to the cloud server that will then be entered into the block chain ledger.
  • The block chain digital ledger system records the transactions and tracking of consignments.
  • It becomes easy for all stakeholders -drug manufacturers, controllers and hospitals to monitor the ledger.
  • This eliminates the possibility of mixing fake drugs with original drugs.
  • In addition block chain process is hack proof because it does not use a centralized system to store data.
  • Any revision on the chain requires retrograde action on all associated blocks.
  • This process allows users to see transactions in real time.
  • The real time monitoring of data across the pharmaceutical supply chain will act as a third eye on fake drug dealers.

What are the other initiatives in this regard?

  • Gujarat has implemented an online drug SMS alert system for retailers for ‘unsafe’ drugs.
  • The state drug control authority worked with National Informatics Centre to develop the software.
  • Abbott has introduced an SMS authentication scheme for customers.
  • QR codes are also used to store product information on packs which will do away with the need to print leaflets.
  • These QR codes can be an effective tracking mechanism.
  • It allows the manufacturer to keep tabs on the drug’s circulation in the market.
  • Companies are also planning to print a hologram on the packaging and mirco-emboss the product name on cartons.

What is the way forward?

  • As block chain technology evolves, India’s efforts to root out counterfeit drugs will definitely make headway.
  • It will surely lead to a much safer public health system in the country.

 

 

Source: Business standard

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