A Study on The Extent to Which Block Chain Technology Prevents Counterfeit Medicine Distribution in the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry

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Authors
Susanna Alex, Anju
Issue Date
2023
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When it comes to producing generic drugs, India dominates the market. More than half of all vaccines produced, as well as 40% of all generic drugs sold in the United States, come from India's pharmaceutical industry. By volume, India is the third-largest pharmaceutical producer worldwide, and by value, it is the fourteenth-largest. A counterfeit medicine or counterfeit medication is a drug or pharmaceutical product that has been produced and distributed with the goal to misrepresent its origin, validity, or effectiveness. Blockchain is the future of technology because of its distributed database structure and the unparalleled data security and integrity it provides to its users. Many industries, including the pharmaceutical, will benefit from blockchain technology's ability to speed up their digital transition. In this study, I intend to investigate the problem of counterfeit drugs in India, as well as their effects and potential technological solutions. The study will provide light on how blockchain technology can be used to stop the spread of counterfeit drugs, which, as is widely known, can have devastating effects on human health. In addition, this research looks at the difficulties of putting blockchain systems into practise. Quantitative and qualitative methods are used interchangeably in this investigation. The quantitative approach often involves an inquiry by use of a survey questionnaire. In order to get the necessary information, a questionnaire would be developed and sent electronically to workers at pharmaceutical firms in India. Interviews with a supply chain and production management from a well-known Indian firm are done for qualitative research. Both sets of data are combined to reach the ultimate conclusion. By using blockchain technologies in the Indian pharmaceutical sectors the distribution of counterfeit medications are prevented to about 20%-40%. From the interviews it was found that blockchain technologies are associated with many challenges. When all these challenges are tackle down blockchain can work with more efficiency and thereby we can completely avoid the counterfeit medicines distribution and issues related to it like health issues, mortality rate and so on. From the study conducted it was found that Indian pharmaceutical firms were among the few in the world to employ innovative technologies like blockchain to stop the distribution of fake drugs in the Indian pharmaceutical industry. Pharmaceutical companies employ blockchain technology to create a distinct digital identity for each product at the time of manufacturing. The product's digital identity is validated and recorded on the blockchain at every step of the supply chain. This ensures that the item is real and unaltered. This is how the blockchain technology utilized by the Indian pharmaceutical sector prevents the distribution of fake pharmaceuticals.

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