Abstract:
The role of online pharmacies in supplying pharmaceutical products has experienced
significant growth; the anonymity provided by the internet and the inherent nature of online
pharmacies enables counterfeit pharmaceuticals to reach a global audience, making it
extremely difficult to monitor and enforce anti-counterfeit measures. The current framework
by online pharmacies uses centralized records for product authentication; however, such
records are vulnerable to manipulation, allowing the inclusion of pharmaceutical products
sourced from unregulated supply chains. The growth of blockchain technology in preserving
data integrity and confidentiality through hashing and decentralization of transaction records
presents a potential path to revolutionize various aspects of the pharmaceutical supply chain
against counterfeiting. This study sought to develop a Blockchain-based framework to address
pharmaceutical product counterfeiting in online pharmacy supply chains. The following
objectives guided the study: first, to analyze existing frameworks used in pharmaceutical
product anti-counterfeiting and identify gaps; second, to design a Blockchain-based framework
for online pharmacy product anti-counterfeiting; and third, to evaluate the proposed
Blockchain-based framework for product anti-counterfeiting. This study adapted design
science research with a research strategy for each phase; desktop research was adapted to
examine traditional and blockchain-based frameworks used to combat pharmaceutical product
counterfeiting. The analysis was based on a set of variables drawn from existing literature. The
analysis results showed the inadequacy of traditional frameworks in guaranteeing the integrity
of authentication data; in addition, blockchain-based frameworks presented high operation
costs and low transaction throughput. The proposed framework (BFOP) was designed based
on the guidelines of the ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010:2022. The framework strikes a balance between
decentralization and regulation; the regulator is included in the design to take charge of node
registration and transaction approval, indirectly addressing compensation for nodes involved
in the mining process and high computational costs associated with blockchain. The study
adopted a simulation approach to evaluate the proposed framework using a Minimum Viable
Product (MVP). The MVP was developed and deployed using Ganache and the Remix IDE
for writing and testing smart contracts. Simulation results affirm that (BFOP) offers
competitive advantages regarding transaction costs of about X=3.150*10 ^ -7Gwei, which is
considered slightly cheaper compared to 3.8*10^-5 reported by similar frameworks, making
its architecture a promising pharmaceutical supply chain integrity solution. In addition, BFOP's
average transaction time of ten seconds is comparable with other frameworks, confirming its
potential for practical deployment.
