Fantom, the blockchain-based project, will help the Afghan government combat a serious problem facing society: the distribution of fake medicines among its population.
Data revealed by the World Health Organization show that today's society faces a serious problem when buying or acquiring a medicine: 1 in 10 medicines distributed among the population is fake or does not meet established safety standards. Likewise, a study by the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) reveals that 40% of medicines entering Afghanistan do so illegally and without complying with the necessary health and safety parameters.
Based on this situation, the Afghan government made the decision to incorporate the technology blockchain as an alternative to combat and control this serious problem in society. With a blockchain-based system, Afghanistan will be able to establish adequate control that allows it to know the medicines and other pharmaceutical products that enter the country, verifying their legitimacy and origin.
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Fantom, a blockchain solution against counterfeit medicines
El project called Fantom It was born as a proposal from the pharmaceutical industry to combat the counterfeiting and distribution of medicines in Afghanistan that do not meet health and safety standards, and that can put the lives of millions of people at risk.
Fantom is a blockchain-based platform and smart contracts (smart contracts) that aims to monitor the entry and distribution of medicines and other pharmaceutical products within the country. This platform will operate jointly with the system Opera, which is also a blockchain-based solution.
With this platform, the government will be able to accurately track and control medicines received in Afghanistan, verifying their origin, authenticity and legal status. By keeping a single, detailed and immutable record on a blockchain of medicines entering the country and their subsequent distribution, the distribution of fake medicines among the population can be largely countered.
Fantom's CIO, Michael Kong He pointed out that now with the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis it has caused, the distribution of fake medicines has increased to extremely worrying levels. Kong pointed out that since 2018 they have been fighting these evils in society, but with the arrival of the pandemic they have seen an 18% increase in the seizure of antivirals and 100% in chloroquine, truly alarming figures. Likewise, Kong highlighted that the solution to this problem is based on blockchain, since distributed registry technology will allow transparent and reliable control over pharmaceutical products and medicines that enter the country and the distribution of said medicines.
Blockchain, a transparent and immutable technology
The Fantom platform will provide labels to track and control a total of 80.000 medicines created by companies Nabros y Bliss Gvs in its initial phase. These pharmaceutical products will be focused on helping the country counteract the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as treating common ailments among the population; therefore, for the initial phase, there will be 50.000 units of hand sanitizers, 10.000 units of joint creams, 10.000 units of Kofol and 10.000 units of Diacare.
By monitoring and controlling these products, Fantom will demonstrate its ability to scan and label each medication, creating a unique and immutable record within the blockchain to prevent the medications from being altered or distributed once they have expired, something that unfortunately occurs frequently within the country. Likewise, Fantom will ensure that the medications arrive correctly at their destination, detecting and avoiding alterations during the supply chain.
To keep this record, the tags issued by Fantom can be verified within the blockchain, as they contain a number hash unique and unrepeatable for each product, so that from this number the name of the product, batch, barcode, date of issue and expiration, the registration number of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration of the United States) and the name of the manufacturer can be verified. In addition, through the hash of each medicine and pharmaceutical product, a record of the location and current status of the product can also be kept, as well as the date and time at the time each scan is performed; each of these data are recorded as a timestamp within the blockchain, and once there they cannot be modified or altered.
To date, in addition to Fantom, there are several proposals and projects focused on implementing blockchain technology to present pharmaceutical solutions. Without a doubt, the potential qualities that this technology possesses will be of great benefit to improve the control and registration systems necessary in the health sector worldwide.
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