Blockchain Technology Transforms the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain

16 Pages Posted: 27 Mar 2023

See all articles by Yan Pang

Yan Pang

Department of Analytics and Operations

Zhen Yu

National University of Singapore (NUS) - NUS Business School

Haisheng Zhang

Zuellig Pharma Holdings Pte. Ltd.

Corinne Sim

Zuellig Pharma Holdings Pte. Ltd.

Marianne Louise Chang

Zuellig Pharma Holdings Pte. Ltd.

Ashley Chong

Zuellig Pharma Holdings Pte. Ltd.

Date Written: March 30, 2022

Abstract

The pharmaceutical supply chain (PSC) is highly complex and challenging. This paper first elaborates on the key challenges in current PSC operations and management. Then, it proposes a blockchain-based framework to improve PSC traceability and visibility and overcome the problems of counterfeiting, cold chain monitoring, sales rechanneling, product shortage, expiration, and recall. By implementing the blockchain-based solution, PSC stakeholders can considerably increase their efficiency in distributing verifiable drugs. Pharmaceutical manufacturers can enhance their product recall management, gain more insights into product stock-out status, and enable a quicker inventory turnaround of products from warehouses with an auto-replenishment function. Healthcare professionals will reduce administration in manual tracking of stocks with the auto-replenishment trigger to minimize out-of-stock inventory while efficiently tracking expired, damaged, and returned products. Zuellig Pharma, one of the largest healthcare services groups in Asia, adopts the proposed framework to develop a commercial track and trace solution, i.e., eZTracker, for PSC with trusted data sharing and exchange capability. eZTracker has been successfully rolled out in several Asia markets. The implementation challenges and learnings of eZTracker are also discussed in the paper.

Keywords: blockchain, supply chain management, pharmaceutical supply chain management, cold chain, counterfeit

Suggested Citation

Pang, Yan and Yu, Zhen and Zhang, Haisheng and Sim, Corinne and Chang, Marianne Louise and Chong, Ashley, Blockchain Technology Transforms the Pharmaceutical Supply Chain (March 30, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4112666 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4112666

Yan Pang (Contact Author)

Department of Analytics and Operations ( email )

15 Kent Ridge Dr
Singapore, 129800
Singapore

HOME PAGE: http://https://bizfaculty.nus.edu.sg/faculty-details/?profId=514

Zhen Yu

National University of Singapore (NUS) - NUS Business School ( email )

Haisheng Zhang

Zuellig Pharma Holdings Pte. Ltd. ( email )

Corinne Sim

Zuellig Pharma Holdings Pte. Ltd. ( email )

Marianne Louise Chang

Zuellig Pharma Holdings Pte. Ltd. ( email )

Ashley Chong

Zuellig Pharma Holdings Pte. Ltd. ( email )

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