PSU Researchers Develop Blockchain Protocol to Combat Counterfeit Pharmaceuticals
Portland State University (PSU) researchers have made a blockchain protocol to fight counterfeit pharmaceuticals.
Nirupama Bulusu, PSU researcher and professor of computer science at the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science in collaboration with PSU computer science doctoral student Naif Alzahrani published a work titled “A new product anti-counterfeiting blockchain using a truly decentralized dynamic consensus protocol.”
The researchers described a new blockchain-based method to record transactions moved to facilitate the fight against fake pharmaceuticals by product checking and decentralization. The proposed solution represents a blockchain-based chain of information, with only users possessing a specific key to access or modify the stored data.
Bulusu stated that the decision to create the protocol was due to the fact that the counterfeit pharmaceutical crisis harms the most vulnerable international populations. Bulusu said: “This protocol could potentially disrupt and disable illicit supply networks,”
Blockchain technology has been widely adopted in order to fight counterfeiting in various industries.