As a kid, I must first point out that my interests lied in very unusual things. Catching and studying insects, wanting to know the mechanism of drugs action, and a few others.

Of all these, my greatest interest lied in understanding how drugs worked. Perhaps it was because I just could not wrap my head around any explanation, especially the capsule and tablet drug forms. How something so small possessed the ability to make a complex, living entity such as man vulnerable or hyper, baffled me.

Thankfully, this childhood obsession did not outlive its owner. My recently concluded industrial training was very helpful and it was indeed an eye-opener on how drugs work and how the pharmaceutical industry is structured.

So, these days, I wonder why one would complete two packets of an antimalarial drug and yet, the fever has not broken one bit, when of course the clinical diagnosis reveals that such a person has malaria.....well, I guess the reason is not far-fetched, most likely, it's a counterfeit drug.

In spite of efforts of the pharmaceutical industry to curtail this challenge, it just happens that it always manage to rear its ugly head again.

DANGERS OF COUNTERFEIT DRUGS

The consequence of prevailence of counterfeited drugs globally cannot be mettled down.

Here's an excerpt that caught my fancy from FarmaTrust's whitepaper:

"According to a recent PWC report (https://www.strategyand.pwc.com/reports/counterfeit-pharmaceuticals), up to 30% of all drugs in circulation are fake, leading to up to a million deaths annually, including 450,000 preventable deaths from malaria alone. Some of these deaths can be attributed directly to the toxic ingredients (such as rat poison, floor wax, industrial chemicals and the like) used to produce counterfeit drugs. Many more are a result of substandard drugs being sold to unsuspecting consumers, with little to no active ingredients present in drugs, which would otherwise have saved the consumers from preventable or curable diseases."

In third world nations, particularly in the African continent, say Nigeria for example, the dangers are even more. When people use the appropriate conventional drugs to treat an ailment and it does not have any effect, they are compelled to resort to taking herbs, and concoctions. Again, there is no outright harm in doing so (besides the API in most drugs are gotten from plants). The thing however is that in the long run, it can be catastrophic, as many of these herbs, though medicinal, are raw and as such, no dosage would suffice. As a matter of fact, it would be impossible to preempt the nature of side effects that one would be in risk of, by taking these herbs directly. Even worse, there is the risk of death.

Its quite clear from the aforementioned that counterfeited drugs are a major challenge.

But, not for long.

With the advent of FarmaTrust, the whole story is about to change for good.

What is FarmaTrust?

Basically, FarmaTrust is an organization that is committed to help solve the challenges of counterfeits, high costs, security and ambiguity of the pharmaceutical supply chain network, particularly through use of blockchain technology, and this is made possible by providing end-to-end information about the industry's supply chain.

Today, FarmaTrust is one of the fastest growing blockchain solutions.

Benefits of FarmaTrust technology to the Pharmaceutical industry

As far as players in the pharmaceutical industry, FarmaTrust's arrival could not be more apt than now.

It will help to ensure that pharmaceutical companies meet up to track and trace regulatory compliance whilst effectively saving costs.

It affords the opportunity to provide data transparency across all strata.

It will also boost the confidence of the end-user in the potency and originality of conventional drugs.

For the regulatory bodies, it will provide instant, quick and easy access to drug information which allows for verification of drug information..

Ultimately, the FarmaTrust technology would minimize the risk of purchasing fake or counterfeit drugs.

I for one, believe that this blockchain solution has come to stay and that it is what we need to curb the menace of counterfeiteing.

Here is my entry for @originalworks' FarmaTrust contest.

To participate, visit:

https://steemit.com/blockchain/@originalworks/260-steem-40-bonuses-sponsored-writing-contest-farmatrust

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