In the past, we have seen pharma products fall victim to fake product and counterfeit medicines making the rounds of the market. Companies have long struggled to weed them out of market circulation so as to not harm potential and/or critical patient. Fake products sold in the name of branded companies also harm the company’s reputation as they are then associated with bad, even life-threatening medicines. Apart from this, often times products may get damaged in transit or during the complex supply chain process. It may so happen that one of the raw components used to make a particular product does not comply with industry standard and all the medicines now need to be recalled. These situations have to be handled swiftly and effectively so as to minimize loss of profit and making sure that the product doesn’t reach the end consumer. All these situations compelled companies, government and the entire pharma industry per say to come together to figure out ways in which these problems could be solved collectively.

The step was to implement pharma product serialization. It’s a method in which product packaging are assigned a unique code. The code is defined according to the country’s regulation and follows the industry standard. The code can be seen in primary and secondary packaging of the products for extra security and safety. Since there are a lot of laws and regulations that pharma companies have to check on their list and to ensure that risk is minimized, Quality Control (QC) and Quality Assurance (QA) is implemented properly and efficiently. They have to make sure that the budget and resources are used wisely. Blockchain can be very useful here what with its decentralized system, smart contracts and immutable data records. Since it gives information across a shared network with distributed systems, all participants in the network can view where and in what condition the product is in.

1. Traceability: Product can be traced easily due to the unique serialization on them. This means that fake products can be weeded out easily from circulation and damaged/ bas products can easily be recalled. Tracing and tracking can give full information about how a product was made, where it is in the supply chain process and has it been delivered yet. Blockchain technology provides traceability features with real time data based on 24X7 tracking.

2. Authentication: Serialization is a major product authentication method. It is critical advantage against counterfeiting and fake products. Smart contracts in blockchain ensure there are no intermediaries hence limiting entry for fake products to make its way in. Blockchain also provides protection by integrating operation with identification labelling and authentication systems.

3. Sample management: Sample distribution and inventory can be kept in stock and be more efficient if products are bar – coded. Expiration dates can be tracked and quality of the products are controlled and this information make compliance easier.

Its easy to see that security of pharma products is enhanced due to blockchain enabled product serialization. It cuts out a lot of manual labor and makes everything automated to streamline processes. With MSRvantage’s next gen blockchain solution and pharma services experience, you can make your

brand name synonymous with trust and authentic medicines. By enabling layers of product serialization and providing a complete overview of your products journey, MSRVantage will help your company fight fraud and counterfeit.