Application of on-dose identification and blockchain to prevent drug counterfeiting

Drug manufacturing is expensive, and it takes approximately two billion dollars to manufacture a single type of drug. Replacement of these drugs with counterfeit drugs is a prevailing problem and causes about 150 billion-dollar [1] loss to the pharmaceutical industry annually. In addition to loss of money, counterfeit drugs also pose a threat to lives, and sabotages reputed brand names. The counterfeit drug problem is encouraged because of lack of coordination and traceability of the drug itself within the pharmaceutical supply chain. The pharmaceutical supply chain is a highly complex and branched chain where many players are involved in moving the drug from one point to the other. Since there is no system in place to accurately trace the drug movement, counterfeiters enter the supply chain, and replace the authentic drugs with fake ones