PharmaChain 3.0: Blockchain Integrated Efficient QR Code Mechanism for Pharmaceutical Supply Chain

Abstract

Because of globalization, many different entities distributed across the locations were able to work together and achieve the availability of services even at remote locations. Supply Chains helped in leveraging such businesses globally with reduced costs and increased efficiency. Pharmaceutical Supply Chain (PSC) is one in which the prescription drugs are moved from the manufacturer to the patient. Providing the right medicine at the right time to the right patient in the right doses coming from the right route is called the five rights of medication. Due to the increased number of participating entities, and interactions between entities and adversaries trying to profit by introducing counterfeit drugs into the supply chain, efficient tracking and tracing mechanism is very much needed in PSC. The current paper proposes an architecture that is integrated with Blockchain, Inter Planetary File System (IPFS) along with QR code technologies to provide a secure QR code mechanism for addressing such tracking and tracing issues in PSC. The proposed model is evaluated for security and efficiency using different metrics.