Authentic Drug Usage and Tracking with Blockchain Using Mobile Apps

Abstract

<span>Tracking drugs became more difficult using the centralized architecture. Decentralized architecture using blockchain technology overcomes the difficulties faced by the centralized network like availability and recovery. Avoiding duplicate or fake drugs created by fake manufacturers is a big challenge in the centralized network. Authentic stock is managed and the supply chain is tracked efficiently using this blockchain technology. This is addressed by using the smart contract which helps to track the movement of drugs from manufacturer to supplier, supplier to the reseller, reseller to pharmacies and finally pharmacies to patient. By default, duplicate drugs or fake drugs are completely avoided by using the blockchain technology. Patients buy drugs without any prescription and it creates a lot of problems in real life. So, Patients cannot buy drugs without authenticated doctor’s prescriptions with the help of a QR Code scanner attached with the prescription which will be implemented using a mobile application and cannot buy excess drugs which might lose someone’s life. With the help of inventory management, the maximum limit of drugs to avoid overdose and pharmacies cannot sell those overdose drugs. Consulting a doctor before buying a drug for even a simple illness is important and it is tracked by using prescriptions provided by authentic doctors. In this project, these challenges are addressed using the smart contract which is written in solidity language and runs on a public ethereum network.</span>

A Review of Blockchain Applications and Healthcare Informatics

“…To preserve patient privacy, permission-based complete blockchains provide access to authenticated individuals [42]. With the help of QR code-enabled prescriptions, clever contracts written in the solidity language to operate on the Ethereum platform may be used to stop patients from buying excess medication that isn't prescribed to them to avert death [43]. The same study illustrates the use of multiple validation syntaxes to prevent reapplication attacks if the off-chain and on-chain do not match in terms of the write depend [44].…”

“…A comparison of MultiChain, Hyperledger Fabric, and Ethereum finds that MultiChain may be the most user-friendly blockchain platform, Hyperledger Fabric is the most secure due to its layers of security, and Ethereum has the most developer support [45]. Similar benefits accrue to the pharmaceutical industry from Ethereum-based smart contracts built in the solidity language, including speed, cost savings, accuracy, and the ability to use backup [43]. Main Contributions Gaps Identified [36] The implementation of a BCT-enabled healthcare sustainable supply chain is the main goal of this research to enhance HSCP.…”

Log Data Integrity Solution based on Blockchain Technology and IPFS

“…Ethereum is an online exchange protocol, based on the blockchain, and open to decentralized applications [11].…”

VigilRx: A Scalable and Interoperable Prescription Management System Using Blockchain

“…Further work by Zhang et al [16] applied the emerging HL7's Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard in a blockchain-based EHR system called FHIRChain. Ruby Benita et al [15] proposed a system that used Ethereum and a mobile app for prescription drug tracking and authentication. Zhang et al [7] also developed a system called DASH that served to identify use cases for blockchain in healthcare and evaluated design considerations for its effective application.…”