FarmaTrust - Staging The End To Fake Drugs

It was a Saturday evening, Nina and I had already decided to go see a movie.

Dressed in my yellow flowery gown, I set out and called Nina to meet me up at the venue.

In no time, we were both there and had bought some pop corns and drinks to keep our mouths busy while the movie was on display.

Few minutes into the movie, Nina started complaining of a running stomach.

It was so severe we had to rush her out of the movie scene, quickly boarded a taxi and headed straight to the hospital.

By this time, she was crying like a baby.

I couldn't understand what happened.

At the hospital, the doctors were alerted and they immediately sprung to action.

Tests upon tests and it was discovered that Nina had taken a fake drug unknowingly.

Thankfully, Nina was saved but the experience still remains fresh till date.

According to a research, about 30% drugs in circulation are fake.

Most of these fake drugs could actually lead to death which could directly be attributed to toxic ingredients used in producing such drugs.

Introducing The FarmaTrust Solution.

FarmaTrust is a an efficient blockchain solution designed to solve issues in pharmaceutical supply chains. FarmaTrust will enable the tracking of drugs from production to consumer. This ensures that the contents are as stated, and safe to use. FarmaTrust will integrate with software solutions that are already in place in order to ensure that companies can quickly adopt the technology into their workflow. FarmaTrust will serve various consumers, ranging from the pharmaceutical companies producing the drugs, government entities and the end consumers.

FarmaTrust is set to protect millions of people from the dangers of counterfeit drugs as well as the brands against being inflicted with a bad name.

Due to 2D barcodes, QR codes, and a variety of different technical standards mean data usually held in technology silos, malevolent actors can easily introduce counterfeit products into the supply chain without being detected.

This is why the present pharmaceutical supply chain is left exposed to fraud and tampering.

FarmaTrust Mission

The mission of FarmaTrust is to become the provenance system of choice for the pharmaceutical supply chain, by providing an effective and global data verification and coordination layer which enables greater transparency, efficiency, and immutability for the recording of all activities across the supply chain - from the point of manufacture to the end consumer.

The most interesting fact about FarmaTrust is that it is built on the blockchain and has developed the blockchain-based Zoi Supply chain Information Exchange platform to securely verify and track the supply of genuine products across a diverse network of pharmaceutical brands, manufacturers, distributors and supply chain operators, providing traceability and data services to governments, law enforcement agencies, NGOs, retailers and end consumers.

The entirety of this system provides safe, secure, encrypted and immutable data for all parties in the supply chain (from pharmaceutical companies, to manufacturers, logistics and supply, government, regulators, law enforcement) and much more important, the end consumers.

Benefits of FarmaTrust

Smart Contracts and Intelligent Processing
FarmaTrust partners with pharmaceutical companies, government agencies and law enforcement to develop robust and intelligent data processes that meet the track and trace compliance requirements. These include: Verifying the traceability of individual product packets, as required by track and trace regulation; Tracking a product’s journey through the supply chain; Real time tracking of product ownership and chain of custody, among many others.

**Data Security and Confidentiality **
The zero-knowledge proof mechanisms ensure confidential and commercial data can be verified across different entities and regions without exposing the information.

**Artificial Intelligence **
FarmaTrust uses the blockchain technology to provide its value added services. It also envisages using AI to find the most efficient routes to market.

Advantages Of The FarmaTrust System

Advantages of the FarmaTrust systems varies between the different sectors under which the FarmaTrust operates.

To Pharmaceutical companies
● Cost effective approach to meet track and trace regulatory compliance.
● Lightweight API driven system that is simple to integrate into supply chains.
● Minimal impact or disruption to existing systems.
● Low maintenance and overhead costs required to scale the system.
● Provides data transparency across the supply chain.
● Zero-knowledge proofs mean data can be kept confidential and different pricing regimes for different customers.
● Machine learning services in respect to efficient routes to market.
● Predictive supply services in respect to providing information on which medicines to supply where, when and the required quantities.

To Supply chain companies
● Quick and cost effective to implement.
● Minimal impact and disruption to systems and processes.
● Easily integrates with existing supply chain management systems.
● Scalable, flexible, and robust enough to handle complex supply chain workflows.
● Zero-knowledge proofs mean data can be kept confidential.
Regulators and law enforcement
● Convenient access to real time information about medicinal products in the supply chain.
● A quick and easy method to verify status of genuine pharmaceutical products.
● Streamlined digital workflow and immutable record of data history minimizes risk of manual errors.
● Instant access to accurate and complete product history.

Many countries now have regulators which monitor the pharmaceutical industry. This includes ensuring pharmaceutical companies meeting minimum standards as well as having stringent reporting requirements. FarmaTrust provides Regulators a data dashboard with an overview of the operations of the pharmaceutical companies, their drugs, and activities in the territories that they manage and further ensure that they are compliant with such regulations.

To Governments / Ministries of Health
● Provides holistic view of medicines within the territory.
● Accurate and easy access to where state subsidies are being spent.
● Allows for financial and/or budget forecasting.
● Allows accountability of governmental bodies, spending and waste.
● Provides significant transparency in respect to State finances in healthcare.

In many countries, drugs are subsidised by the the government through tax payers. This national subsidised system requires that public finances are auditable and spend efficiently. FarmaTrust gives governmental organisations complete visibility across their territories, thereby allowing for future planning, budgeting and use of funds, as well as waste, through expired drugs or “leakage”.

To Retailers and consumers
● Confidence in the genuine source of pharmaceuticals.
● Increase confidence in purchasing online medicines.
● Reduced risk of purchasing fake or counterfeit products.
● Ability to quickly verify genuine products.

FarmaTrust Token Model

Built on the Ethereum blockchain, the FarmaTrust will issue two types of Tokens which are the FTT Tokens and the ZOI Tokens

The FTT Token is an ERC20 standard token which is a publicly tradable digital asset that will allow users access and participate in the ZOI ecosystem.

While the FTT tokens can be staked to receive ZOI Tokens.
Every seven days, 500 ZOI tokens are generated for every 100 FTT tokens staked.
The ZOI tokens are utility tokens used to fuel transactions and payments on the ZOI platform.

How the FarmaTrust Token model works

Final Thoughts

With FarmaTrust being built on the blockchain, there is a great possibility it hits the rock. With its already mapped out working model included in their whitepaper, and the inclusion of tokens, I am without doubt that they have the capacity to take up and develop their model to discharge it to a usable generation.

To get detailed insight into the mode of operation of FarmaTrust, please visit their website.

You can also connect with them on Facebook and Twitter farma2018

This is my entry into @originalworks writing contest