Blockchain technology is also revolutionizing supply chains in the pharmaceutical industry, in the process, helping track fake medicines. 



From genomics to robotics, technology is truly revolutionizing
the healthcare sector. And while it’s easy to become consumed by exciting,
futuristic trends like artificial intelligence (AI) diagnosis, digitized
patient records and 3D-printed medical tools, technology is also transforming
the pharmaceutical industry. How medication is prescribed, dispensed and
administered is big business with McKinsey predicting the value of Africa’s
pharmaceutical industry to be $65 billion in 2020.



But fake drugs are an ongoing and complex issue – they can
cause death, have unknown side-effects, fail to treat illnesses, and sometimes
even add to the spread of disease. According to World Health Organization (WHO)
statistics, 42% of detected cases of falsified (or substandard) pharmaceuticals
occur in Africa – reports estimate that between 72,000 and 169,000 children die
each year from pneumonia because of counterfeit antibiotics while fake malaria
drugs cause an additional 64,000 –158,000 deaths every year in sub-Saharan
Africa. Both antimalarials and antibiotics sit among the most commonly-reported
counterfeited drugs.



“Fake medicine distribution is rampant because business
processes are siloed between the various industry stakeholders, which puts the
industry at risk of fraud,” explains Heidi Patmore, a marketing consultant
specializing in technology that’s changing consumer behavior. 



“One solution to this would be cross-company process
automation which could easily be enabled by a blockchain data interchange. This
creates an open information system that all players can use to verify the
authenticity of medication because it can track and trace it from when it’s
manufactured to when it is dispensed to the patient.”



Companies such as IBM and SAP are working on blockchain
solutions to weed out Africa’s counterfeit medication network. When medicine is
returned to pharmaceutical manufacturers, for example, it is often re-sold
instead of being destroyed. How can a small local pharmacy ensure what is
returned is authentic? SAP are working with their existing client base – Merck,
GSK, Ingelheim, McKesson and others – on a blockchain project to verify that
any returned drugs are original. 



IBM Research’s solution for Africa (currently in development
in Haifa, Israel) includes a mobile interface and permissioned blockchain
backend that enables each certified and authorized party in the network to
initiate action, finish their transaction, and track its progress. 



“It also includes the monitoring of temperature to ensure
compliance with the proper conditions for transportation and asset transfer,”
adds Inna Skarbovsky, a blockchain architect from IBM Research – Haifa.
“Blockchain ensures full provenance for each medicine package, uniquely
identified with a barcode or a serial number. This makes it possible for all
authorized parties to track the drugs through the entire supply chain and the
drugs’ life-cycle.”



This also allows significant cost reductions by eliminating each participant’s need to manage a separate system for traceability of its components. “It also improves procedural efficiency for change-of-hands, make it much harder for counterfeit drugs to be introduced into the supply chain and to be distributed to end-users,” says Skarbovsky.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="768" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/IMG_20190927_124217-1-768x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42537"/><figcaption> Towett Ngetich, CEO of Uthabiti Health, a Kenya-based pharmaceutical company </figcaption></figure>



Towett Ngetich is the CEO of Uthabiti Health, a Kenya-based pharmaceutical company that has implemented blockchain to bring transparency and accountability back to a country where statistics show that 30% of medicines sold are counterfeit. Uthabiti, which means ‘verify’ in Swahili, was started after Ngetich’s first-hand experience with the effects of fake health products: “Back in university, a significant number of students fell victim to unplanned pregnancies and unsafe abortions. With deep research, it was uncovered that there had been a supply of fake contraceptives and backstreet abortion pills into the student market,” explains Ngetich. More findings showed the presence of fake antibiotics, antiretrovirals (ARVs) and non-communicable diseases (NCD) medicines in the Kenyan pharmaceutical supply chain. 



“Pharmaceutical science is the center of healthcare – one
mistake in any drug composition or formulation has the risk of endangering a
significant number of people. The need to access safe, affordable and quality
health products in its simplest form means life and death in diagnosed health complications.
Blockchain gives patients the ability to track and trace products using
attached IDs – it also gives Uthabiti Health the ability to know where all our
health products sit within each supply chain,” he says. Uthabiti Health
procures medicines from different pharmaceutical manufacturers. Once received,
they go to an internal laboratory for quality testing and are then labeled with
the product’s safety lab report – attached in their codes is a unique
blockchain ID. The medicines are then passed on to their partnering retail
points, ensuring that the medicines dispensed to patients can be verified with
something as simple as a text message. 



“This brings in consumers in safe-proofing the supply chain
of pharmaceuticals,” adds Ngetich. 



The proliferation of fake drugs throughout Africa is complex
– on average, medicine changes 30 hands before reaching the destined pharmacy –
but blockchain technology has great potential to help stop counterfeit medicine
distribution because it brings traceability and trackability to the entire
pharmaceutical supply chain, ensuring the immutability of information.&nbsp; 



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">Blockchain ethics?</h4>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="709" height="1024" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CandicedC-709x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-42533" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CandicedC-709x1024.jpg 709w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CandicedC-300x433.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CandicedC-600x867.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CandicedC-208x300.jpg 208w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CandicedC-768x1110.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CandicedC-1063x1536.jpg 1063w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/CandicedC.jpg 1329w" sizes="(max-width: 709px) 100vw, 709px" /><figcaption>Candice De Carvalho</figcaption></figure>



While blockchain is still a relatively niche technology, it is slowly changing how organizations operate. Blockchain promises better security and transparency, but not necessarily for the customer, in the case of drug allocation: “Where blockchain technology could likely increase efficiency and simultaneously decrease the abuse of medicines, customers benefit. The pharmaceutical and related industries are unique however, in that the ‘consumer’ is also a patient – a vulnerable group with special needs and rights,” explains Candice De Carvalho, the founder of Easy Ethics CPD.



Although overall transparency in the supply chain increases
through the use of blockchain, and this confers patient benefits, these must be
weighed against patient privacy and confidentiality.&nbsp; 



“With emerging technologies more freely available, we’ve
observed an interesting shift in patient behavior, where data privacy is
regarded less as an absolute by patients, in favor of a kind of sliding scale,
where privacy itself is a currency that purchases medical benefits along the
way,” adds De Carvalho. “Patients, for the right benefits, are perhaps more willing
to part with some privacy privileges.”



De Carvalho questions the genuine knowledge that patients
have of any exposure they experience through their use of novel medical device
or systems innovations. The key drivers for the business are not necessarily
unified with the total needs of the patient. However, the more the technology
owners protect and balance the patient’s need for confidentiality and consent,
the more they will ultimately see business benefit.&nbsp; 



“In the context of a doctor-patient relationship, the doctor has a positive duty to enhance patient understanding so that the patient enjoys a truly informed consent. Does this then mean that technology providers are now responsible in the same way that medical health workers are?” she ends.



-Tiana Cline

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Cure For Counterfeit Drugs?

Cape Town-born Hilda Lunderstedt is a  shrewd businesswoman and considered a pioneer in the pharmaceutical industry for bringing the nutrients and vitamins trend to South Africa.
Two years shy of 50, Lunderstedt has been in pharmaceuticals for almost 30 years now. She founded NutriLida, a vitamin, mineral and supplements business, in 2001 with a meager pension payout. Eager to build a client base, she sold her first batch of products at a 50% discount. Nine years later, NutriLida was sitting at a staggering nine-figure value. Lunderstedt cashed in, selling the business to South Africa’s second biggest pharmaceutical player, Adcock Ingram.
Today, she spends her time looking for investment opportunities in the international health, wellness and beauty industry. But her starting point is a far cry from the opulence she enjoys today.
She studied pharmacy at Stellenbosch University, graduating in 1987. Her father decided to enroll himself for medical school at the age of 35 in pursuit of his dream of becoming a doctor. Her choice of studying Pharmacy was an extension of her father’s dream for her.
“I honestly didn’t want to be a pharmacist. I just didn’t see it as part of my dream. I just knew that I wanted to do something related to beauty,” she says. Her father’s dream for her proved to be stronger than her affinity for the beauty industry at the time.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29469 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_6299-300x217.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="217" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_6299-300x217.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_6299-600x435.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_6299-768x557.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_6299-1024x742.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_6299.jpg 1023w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Armed with a BSc degree in Pharmacy, she succumbed to the lure of Johannesburg. With her bus ticket in hand and the promise of a job in a start-up pharmaceutical company described “ripe for growth and ready for takeoff”, Lunderstedt made the move to the City of Gold. In six weeks, the company had closed shop and the promise of success in Johannesburg had more than lost its luster.
“Everybody said don’t go to Johannesburg. That place will chew and spit you out. It did. My pride took a beating but more importantly, I simply didn’t have the money to go back to Cape Town.”
With empty pockets and her degree in hand, Lunderstedt maneuvered herself into a local hospital’s pharmacy division. Tasked with the procurement function, she discovered her exceptional ability to sell products and steadily began to grow and cultivate a global network, a network that would prove to be the key to unlocking her future success.
In the early 2000s, the pharmaceutical industry in South Africa was booming, with new pharmacies and products mushrooming in every major city.
“Back then, nobody knew anything about this untapped world of natural food supplements and vitamins. I knew I was on to something.” Lunderstedt was finally able to converge her love for health and beauty with her training in pharmacy.
Before long, she had latched onto a breakthrough – grape seed extract – that would change pharmacy as it was known in South Africa. She cracked the formulae that would unleash the therapeutic benefits of the extract, from healing wounds, treating high cholesterol, repairing nerve damage, and even preventing cancer. Convinced by her findings she quit her job to solely focus on bringing grape seed extract in product form to South African shelves.
Her laughter bubbles over as she recounts how once she had the formulae she reached out to partners in China for production.
“People said you can’t just transfer money to China so I arranged to fly and go meet the production team on the factory floor. I sat wide awake on the 15-hour flight keeping a sharp eye on my small bag of dollars!” A flight and a wad of money later, her product was shipped to South Africa ready to hit the shelves.
“In my first year of business, I got over every fear that I had ever had, professional and personal.”
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-29471 alignleft" src="http://www.forbesafrica.com/app/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_7882-217x300.jpg" alt="" width="217" height="300" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_7882-217x300.jpg 217w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_7882-300x415.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_7882-600x829.jpg 600w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_7882-768x1061.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_7882-741x1024.jpg 741w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Hilda-Lunderstedt_7882.jpg 740w" sizes="(max-width: 217px) 100vw, 217px" />
Lunderstedt never looked back, moving from grape seed extract to other nutricare products. Finally her biggest breakthrough came with bringing probiotics to South Africa, catapulting NutriLida into the big league. She sold the company to Adcock Ingram in 2010 for “hundreds of millions of rands”, making her one of the country’s richest women today.

Tag: Pharmaceutics

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Cure For Counterfeit Drugs?

The Reluctant Pharmacist