The eyes of the world have been on the pharmaceutical sector in 2020 as industry leaders race to test, produce and distribute a vaccine to combat COVID-19. Once a vaccine is approved for use, attention will turn to the logistics of shipping, storage and distribution, particularly if exceptionally cold storage temperatures are required.

Blockchain, long associated with finance and cryptocurrency, offers a unique path forward for the pharmaceutical and logistics industries to maintain the necessary supply chain, particularly when threatened by disruption at an unprecedented scale.

The pharmaceutical supply chain involves researchers, clinicians and third-party logistics teams, each of whom does their part to develop and deliver a product that medical professionals and patients can trust. From ingredient sourcing to stocking products in pharmacies, a vast amount of data is generated and shared between parties. Ensuring this data’s integrity plays a significant role in building the public’s trust in new vaccines and medication.

Blockchain’s distributed ledger capabilities can enable pharmaceutical supply chains to unify, trace, and secure this data. As such, blockchain innovations can inspire stakeholder confidence and accelerate a solution to the current human health crisis.

Blockchain’s role in overcoming supply-chain challenges

The complexity of multifaceted supply chains can threaten companies’ ability to trace shortcomings or failures, and it can even cause the loss of valuable data. Resolving visibility issues in particular is critical to ensuring the integrity of early COVID-19 vaccines, which require extremely low temperatures during shipment to ensure their effectiveness when administered. 

Yet developing a reliable, repeatable and transparent delivery system can be challenging. Without a way to pinpoint process errors, making improvements is extremely difficult and requires an investment many organizations can’t afford. In addition, an unreliable supply chain can lead to security vulnerabilities and the threat of counterfeit drugs being developed from hacked data, posing a significant health risk to patients.

Pharmaceutical companies have been proactive in reimagining their manufacturing and distribution processes in the current environment. These efforts have helped to maintain business continuity, provided safe working conditions for employees and streamlined the process to produce effective COVID-19 vaccines. However, ensuring the ongoing transparency and efficiency of their supply chains remains critically important.

Much of the onus for successful mass vaccinations will fall on logistics providers. These companies must ensure not only that vaccines arrive at their destination safely, but that all relevant information about the vaccines’ integrity is intact and reliable. How can logistics providers guarantee that vaccines have remained at a constant temperature during their journey? That the packaging has not been tampered with? That every safety protocol has been followed since the medicine left the manufacturer, building patients’ confidence that they’re receiving the most-effective vaccine possible?

Though it can’t solve every problem, blockchain technology is proven to help. Successful, relevant use cases include using blockchain to safeguard critical data from IoT sensors capable of monitoring pharmaceutical temperature throughout the shipping process. But the benefits of blockchain in shipping don’t stop there.

The advantages of blockchain

Blockchain’s unique capabilities provide a way to address several concerns in the pharmaceutical and logistics industries. With its distributed, decentralized ledger system, blockchain provides an unalterable record as data changes hands. This key attribute offers multiple advantages:

• Ensuring greater security: Blockchain’s security is one of its strongest assets. Each transaction in the supply chain is documented, and no modifications are allowed. This unalterable chain of data helps to prevent the development of counterfeit drugs from hacked data and pinpoints any incidences of product tampering during shipment.
• Maintaining cold-chain requirements: Temperature and humidity standards are mandatory during the distribution leg to ensure medications arrive at their destinations ready for usage. To avoid the financial loss of cold-chain requirements not being followed, blockchain can ensure vital details remain intact and that essential handling procedures are followed. 
• Enabling greater efficiencies: A supply chain fueled by unified data is more streamlined and efficient than one that relies on stakeholders to ensure data is kept complete. Blockchain prevents information loss during each handoff and mitigates the introduction of erroneous data such as assets being counted twice, both of which cause shipping delays. With greater transparency across the process, delivery times can be reduced without data being lost. 
• Creating a single source of truth: Blockchain enables the transparency necessary to attaining a complete, unified view of the data. By eliminating any data gaps, the entire supply chain becomes an open book with total visibility into each step, allowing companies to monitor the process and ensure quality. Blockchain also enables effective data management and can ensure that all key stakeholders can access the data securely. 
• Developing resiliency now and into the future: Adapting to today’s health and safety requirements has led to a greater reliance on technology and adopting new ways of working. As companies undergo digital transformations, blockchain innovations can improve collaboration among team members regardless of location by providing transparent and secure data. 
• Building consumer confidence: A successful supply chain should result in a high-quality product while building trust and inspiring confidence among healthcare professionals and patients alike. Consistently achieving these goals requires a supply chain that enables companies to correct errors as they occur and to maintain standards across product lines – thus boosting their competitiveness and creating opportunities for long-term growth.

How blockchain benefits industry

From the farmer cultivating raw ingredients to the doctor writing a patient’s prescription, a supply chain enabling each contributor to transfer data securely is essential to creating high-quality products, including medications. The pharmaceutical industry, which relies heavily on the integrity and security of its data, can benefit greatly from using blockchain to improve its supply-chain operations.

The logistics industry can also benefit, particularly where multiple stakeholders and chains of custody are concerned. With its distributed ledger, blockchain enables logistics providers to better track product and shipment information across disparate touchpoints, exponentially increasing transparency for themselves and their customers. In addition, distributors can maintain indisputable data about shipments’ location and integrity can accelerate document transfers and, ultimately, reduce operational costs.

Innovative blockchain healthcare strategies are already considered an ideal solution for vaccine distribution – it’s time for every member of the supply chain to get on board. If implemented properly, blockchain’s impact on the vaccines being developed and distributed today – for COVID-19 or otherwise – could be even greater for the drugs manufactured and distributed tomorrow.