New Blockchain Protocol By Portland State University Researchers Aims To Stop Fake Pharmaceuticals

New Blockchain Protocol Established By Portland State University Researchers, Stopping The Entry Of Fake Pharmaceuticals In Market

Blockchain technology has been one of the most useful results of the cryptocurrency market coming alive. Many companies in other industries around the world have piloted projects based on the fintech, hoping to find ways to integrate the transparency and immutability. The healthcare industry stands to benefit greatly, and a group of researchers from Portland State University have just created a revolutionary protocol.

This protocol, which was announced on April 15^th, will make it possible to use blockchain to stop the entry of counterfeit pharmaceuticals into the market. Nirupama Bulusu, one of the researchers and a professor of computer science at the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science, recently published a piece called “A new product anti-counterfeiting blockchain using a truly decentralized dynamic consensus protocol.” The work was published with contributions by Naif Alzahrani, who is a PSU computer science doctoral student.

During this paper, the two researchers discuss a blockchain-based protocol, which would record transactions with product checking projects to fight back against fake pharmaceuticals in the industry. The process is decentralized, using a blockchain ledger as the network of information. However, the only way to access or change the information stored on the ledger would be with a specific key.

According to Bulusu, developing the protocol was a decision based on the current crisis plaguing the pharmaceutical industry, allowing in fake products that could substantially harm vulnerable populations. However, by using the protocol, it is possible that these “illicit supply networks” could be completely eradicated.

Blockchain technology has largely been used in this way by other industries as well, providing a way to verify authenticity of products and information. IBM and Seagate recently joined together in an effort to apply blockchain technology to eliminate counterfeit hard drives. With their project. The Blockchain Platform for IBM will make it easier for manufacturers, integrators, and business partners to verify the source of the hard disk drive they sell or purchase.

Medici Ventures, the venture capital subsidiary of Overstock.com, decided to invest in a tech company in Israel called VinX in October 2018. The goal of the investment is that the tech company would be able to create a wine futures platform with blockchain technology, heavily influenced by the Bordeaux futures model. With the platform, wine futures trades will be recorded, helping to establish a secure supply chain. This type of security would effectively eliminate fraud, much in the same way that Bulusu and Alzahrani are trying to protect the pharmaceutical industry.