darpa_big_data

Blockchain deployed in fight against fake pharmaceuticals in India

pharmafile | August 22, 2018 | News story | Research and Development India, NITI, blockchain, pharma, technology 

Indian policymakers in collaboration with an Indian hospital chain and an American multinational, have initiated plans to deploy blockchain technology in the fight against counterfeit pharmaceutical drugs.  

The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) a policy think-tank of the Government of India “is putting pharma supply chain management in blockchain for complete traceability of drugs from the manufacturer to consumer,” according to the organisation’s CEO Amitabh Kant as he addressed the International Blockchain Congress in Hyderabad at the beginning of August.

NITI Aayog has partnered with the American information technology multinational Oracle and the Indian hospital chain the Apollo Hospitals Group in order to implement the blockchain technology.

The initiative aims to eliminate all channels of counterfeit medical products, including pharmaceuticals, by transferring Apollo Hospitals inventory to a decentralised blockchain platform.

Kant stated that “There is a need to use blockchain to track and trace medicines and spurious drugs. Therefore NITI Aayog, in collaboration with Apollo Hospitals and Oracle is putting pharmaceutical supply chain in blockchain for complete traceability of drugs from manufacturer to consumer to protect our citizens from the menace of spurious medicines”

The blockchain technology will create a decentralised database which will track the supply chain of pharmaceuticals as they move from manufacturers to distributors to pharmacists and consumers. Pharmaceutical ingredients could be incorporated into the blockhain database in the future.

The initiative aims to tackle India’s problem with counterfeit drugs. The country is currently the second largest supplier of illicit prescription drugs in the United States.

Louis Goss

Related Content

FDA approves IMIDEX’s AI-powered device VisiRad XR

The technological pharmaceutical company IMIDEX has been granted clearance from the US Food and Drug …

Artiva Biotherapeutics announces FDA clearance of IND for AlloNK and Rituximab combo

On 16 August 2023, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officially cleared Artiva Biotherapeutics’ …

kidney

Novartis acquires Chinook Therapeutics for $3.5bn

Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis has entered into an agreement and plan of merger with US-based …

Latest content