News / How blockchain can play a life-saving role in the war against fake medication

© Alexander Yakimov

Lives could be saved each year by using blockchain technology to prevent the spread of counterfeit drugs and fake medication in the supply chain.

According to Interpol, around one million people die each year globally because of counterfeit drugs – some 30% of pharmaceutical products sold in emerging markets are thought to be fakes.

With Accenture, DHL has been working on a blockchain-based track-and-trace serialisation project, which assigns a “unique” identity to each sealable unit to verify a shipment’s legitimacy.

DHL chief development officer Keith Turner said both ...