Article written by Ogbonna, Henry Nnaemeka

One major area of human existence that has suffered so much negligence, abuse and mismanagement is the Pharmaceutical industry. I make this claim with all boldness, maybe because this is my field and I have in the past few years made progressive research on drug abuse, allergy, and USE.

A drug is a chemical substance which when taken alters the normal physiology of the body, it could bring back to normalcy or take away from normalcy. As easy and rampant as it sounds, yet this substance is as dangerous as anything you could think of.

More than half of the human population consumes drugs every minute of the day. There is a geometric increase in the use of DRUGS by individuals; a huge CAUSE is an increase in disease PREVALENCE. I was opportune to work in the biggest PHARMACEUTICAL REGULATORY AGENCY IN NIGERIA—NAFDAC (National Agency for food and drug administration and control). It was a hell of an experience, we tried tracking down the influx of FAKE, SUBSTANDARD SUPPLY CHAIN of drugs, we were constantly analyzing drugs from manufacturers, but the corruption was unbearable and we made some headway but had many limitations.

I have lost many close relatives due to the incidence of counterfeit drugs; it pains me that I could do little as regards to the situation. The future requires our commitment towards curbing this situation. Physical and struggling schemes cannot bring about the results we desire.

Deaths caused by these counterfeit drugs are estimated between 100,000 and 1 million people per year. [4] The large margin of error exists because of a lack of information. Anti-malarial and cancer drugs, heart medications, HIV/AIDS and meningitis vaccines are all popular counterfeiting choices in many developing countries. However, there have also been numerous instances of counterfeit drugs in first-world countries, including the USA. [5]

Consider these examples:

• In 1995, 50,000 people in Niger were inoculated with fake meningitis vaccines, resulting in 2,500 deaths. [6]
• A total of 192,000 people in China were reported to have died in 2001 from counterfeit drugs. Chinese authorities, in that same year, “closed 1,300 factories while investigating 480,000 cases of counterfeit drugs worth 57 million USD”. [7]
• Between 2002 and 2003, a southeast Asian multinational survey was conducted for the anti-malarial tablet, Artesunate, and samples were purchased from various drug sellers, shops and pharmacies. 92 % (56/61) of the packets purchased in Vietnam were found to be counterfeit, containing only trace or no active ingredient. [8]
• In 2012, the Washington Post reported on a counterfeit version of Avastin, a widely used cancer drug, circulating in the USA, which was found to contain salt, starch, acetone, and other chemicals, but no active ingredient. [9]
• 500+ deaths (mostly children) by renal failure, spanning several decades and multiple countries around the globe, caused by diethylene glycol (car anti-freeze) in fake paracetamol syrup. [10]

These examples are not simply isolated instances, but a small sample of a vast global problem.

Earlier this year, the World Health Organisation released a Fact Sheet stating, “An estimated 1 in 10 medical products in low- and middle-income countries is substandard or falsified”. [11] That’s a statistic for all medical products, not just drugs. Anecdotal evidence suggests that counterfeit drugs could be as high as 30% in developing countries.

Imagine, just for a second, that you live in a developing country, where the chances of buying counterfeit drugs are high. You go to your local pharmacy to buy a packet of drugs — something, for example, like a heart medication, which is meant to improve or stabilize your heart function. How do you know whether the packet of drugs you take home is genuine or a counterfeit? If the counterfeit packages and tablets look and feel identical to the real ones, how does anybody — you, the pharmacist, your doctor — know whether they are safe to take?

None of us can currently be 100% certain of the medicines we buy unless we go to the manufacturer and collect them personally.

But as we look into the future, there’s hope on the horizon. The cryptocurrency revolution, and more specifically, blockchain technology, may be exactly what is needed to allow us to be certain that, in the future, the medications we take are legitimate.

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But we have a FUTURE AND INTERESTING SOLUTION

Ladies and gentlemen. I introduce you to the present and future of the PHARMACEUTICAL WORLD.

FarmaTrust

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What is FarmaTrust

FarmaTrust like the name sounds is a Pharmaceutical trust initiative built on blockchain technology. It was established to provide security to the pharmaceutical companies, governments, regulators and the public so that substandard and counterfeit drugs do not enter the supply chain. This is basically what FarmaTrust is established for. But it is a multi-faceted program in that, it runs on the BLOCKCHAIN program. It excellently uses a Computerized reasoning and huge information investigation.

FarmaTrust utilizes Artificial Intelligence and big data analysis to provide the pharmaceutical industry with value-added services which allow for more efficient processes and methods as well as a more transparent supply chain.

FarmaTrust will issue FTT tokens (an ERC20 standard token). The FTT token is the publicly tradable digital asset that allows all users to access and participate in the Zoi ecosystem. FTT and ZOI Tokens.

FTT tokens can be staked and exchanged to receive ZOI tokens. The ZOI tokens are then used only on the FarmaTrust Zoi platform. ZOI tokens are used to create tracks that are used to track serialized products.

HOW IT WORKS

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PROCESS FLOW AND SOLUTION TO ADDED COST

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FarmaTrust also benefits companies that could reduce their supply chain costs while still adhering to regulatory bodies' strict rules. FarmaTrust will allow pharmaceutical companies to automate the reporting process, cutting out the extra expenses incurred in the process!

How it will better the pharmaceutical supply chain

It will do this through the following

A. ELIMINATION OF COUNTERFEIT DRUGS:

Counterfeit drugs have killed a lot of lives, caused cancers, destroyed families, etc. FarmaTrust through its proposed Serialization and verification of individual packages which covers areas such as Manufacturer product code, Serial Number, National reimbursement number, Batch Number, Expiry Date

B. RESTORING INTEGRITY:

The integrity and respect of the PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY will be restored when USERS and CONSUMERS see the tremendous work done by the FarmaTrust.

C. **ENCOURAGING MORE PHARMACEUTICAL BLOCKCHAIN PROGRAMS:

This will birth new blockchain programs that will further serve as a way of effectively combating Counterfeit.

What are the dangers of counterfeit drugs?

• Counterfeit drugs are very dangerous; most of them are cancerous and dangerous to human existence.

• Counterfeit drugs can easily cause MUTATION, this is because it becomes foreign to the body and could easily alter the Nucleotide sequence of the DNA

• Counterfeit drugs could create fear and send a bad message as regards to the use of DRUGS by individuals

What impact will the application of FarmaTrust technology have on the pharmaceutical industry?

It will undoubtedly sanitize the pharmaceutical industry, bringing quality to drugs and the supply chain. And also, improve the USE of drugs by individuals.

What are the benefits of applying blockchain technology to this sector?

The outstanding features of a blockchain technology which includes:

Publicity, transparency, immutability, decentralism makes it an exciting and valuable benefit to the pharmaceutical sector. through publicity, awareness is created on counterfeit drugs.

Through decentralism, an incorruptible and versatile system is seen which tracks down information. transparency makes it hard for this project to know corruption and illicit handling

References

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FarmaTrust CEO Interview