NITI Aayog has joined hands with Oracle, Apollo Hospitals, and Strides Pharma Sciences to pilot a drug supply chain using blockchain decentralized ledger and IoT software.
Anna Roy, advisor (Industry) of NITI Aayog and Shailender Kumar, managing director of Oracle India, signed the agreement.
Oracle said its blockchain software registers a drug’s record in the manufacturer’s drug supply chain, without any scope for record tampering. The blockchain software also records the drug’s movement – from manufacturer to logistics, from stockist to hospital, or from pharmacy to consumer.
The Oracle software will detect irregularity and notify the nodal point in case of a fake drug. Oracle IoT provides functionality to track critical information such as chemical ingredients of the drug or maintenance of temperature control in case of life saving drugs or vaccines.
The Indian pharmaceutical industry, the third largest in the world in volume, accounts for 10 percent of the world’s production. World Health Organization estimates 20 percent of all drugs sold in India are fake. India is reported to be the source of 35 percent of all counterfeit drugs sold worldwide.
NITI Aayog, Apollo Hospitals and Strides Pharma aim to bring transparency, accountability and efficiency in tracing and tracking drugs manufactured in India.
The advantages of blockchain software will be its ability to allow the sharing of information across the supply chain recording every exchange of information, and the tamper-proof nature of records of drug movement.
“With blockchain, every movement of the drug through its supply chain is recorded – that way, the drug supply chain is completely transparent, secure, decentralized and verifiable,” Shailender Kumar, regional managing director of Oracle India, said.
