Health, pharmaceutical supply chain and blockchain : An Overview

Abstract

The healthcare industry is currently undergoing a rapid shift, and blockchain technology will be essential to this change. Future directions put the patient at the center of concern by emphasizing two main aspects: accessible services and appropriate resources at all times. The blockchain is a distributed ledger contains a set of transactions that all the legitimate stakeholders can access. Due to the properties of blockchain such as immutability, trust, transparency, cryptographic security, it offers various benefits that can improve pharmaceutical supply chain and health. Through this paper, we have made a critical description of blockchain technology which includes some existing consensus mechanisms, types and evolutions of blockchain technology, and use cases. This article also aims to discuss the potential role, benefits and contributions of blockchain technology for health and pharmaceutical SC and to assist the health sector community and researchers in understand the same. Although, the practical applicability of the model in healthcare is further illustrated by the development of fully functional smart contracts and a specific private blockchain.