As a crypto investor with a background in healthcare and experience living in Nigeria, I am deeply concerned about the current crisis in the pharmaceutical industry in my home country. The exit of big pharma companies has led to steep pricing of essential medicines and medical equipment, resulting in black marketeering, hoarding, and adulteration.
In the present day, Nigeria faces an unparalleled predicament regarding the availability of essential medicines, including vaccines and medical devices. Multinational pharmaceutical corporations have lately withdrawn their operations from Africa, leaving a significant gap in the supply chain for these vital resources.
As a crypto investor, I’ve noticed the departure of major pharmaceutical companies like GlaxoSmithKline, Bayer, Sanofi, and Moderna from Nigerian markets, leading me to be concerned about the potential consequences for access to essential medicines and medical equipment. This exit has resulted in a significant increase in pricing for antibiotics, life-saving drugs, and other necessary medications within Nigeria.
In the last year, large pharmaceutical corporations and other multinationals, including conglomerates, have withdrawn from Nigeria due to escalating inflation, an unstable exchange rate, a decline in manufacturing sectors, and the weakened value of the Naira versus the US Dollar.
The departure of major pharmaceutical companies from the market has led to a dramatic increase in medicine prices, as well as the emergence of illegal sales, stockpiling, and tampering with drugs and medical equipment.
As a responsible crypto investor and concerned citizen, I believe that the Nigerian government should take necessary steps towards regulating the pharmaceutical industry in order to guarantee access to essential medicines and medical equipment for its people during their pursuit of financial stability and normalcy.
In this article, we’ll explore how blockchain technology could offer solutions to the significant issues confronting the pharmaceutical industry in Nigeria. By delving into its capabilities, we will discuss how this decentralized ledger system can eliminate excess costs, promote transparency, and combat black marketing and drug adulteration.
The Pharma Crisis of Nigeria
As an analyst, I’ve noticed a significant development in the Nigerian pharmaceutical market recently. Four major pharmaceutical companies, including GlaxoSmithKline and Bayer, have decided to leave the market. For me, the most striking departure is that of GlaxoSmithKline, which established its presence in Nigeria as far back as 1972. They’ve announced their intention to adopt a third-party distribution model in order to maintain a consistent supply chain for medicines and drugs within the country. Similarly, Bayer, headquartered in Germany, has made a similar decision.
Sanofi Pharma, which makes life saving polio vaccines, also claimed that they are exiting Nigeria.
Experts note a correlation between the departure of multinational pharmaceutical companies, such as Big Pharma, and the exit of other major corporations like Nestle and Unilever, from Nigeria’s struggling economy.
As a crypto investor, I’ve noticed a concerning trend in the pharmaceutical industry. With the exit of big pharma from the market, prices for essential medicines have skyrocketed. I’ve personally seen citizens paying exorbitant amounts for their medications at over-the-counter chemists and even through black marketeers. The situation has become dire within just six months, with medical equipment like asthma inhalers and syringe needles for injections experiencing significant price hikes as well.
Local Nigerian pharma plagued with corruption
Following the departure of major pharmaceutical corporations, two new entities have emerged in Nigeria’s pharmaceutical industry: domestic businesses and international companies based in India and Pakistan.
One potential way to rephrase this statement could be: The Nigerian government’s pressing task is to prevent the contamination of pharmaceutical products in local factories and put a stop to the unauthorized sale of medications on the black market.
Based on a study conducted by Okereke in 2021, the risk to public health in Africa and particularly Nigeria is growing due to the prevalence of unregulated drug markets, insufficient pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities, inadequate counterfeit detection tools, and weak law enforcement measures.
In 2023, as an analyst looking back at news reports, I came across a disturbing revelation: at least 169,271 deaths in Africa were linked to substandard and adulterated medicines used to treat severe pneumonia in children. This startling figure emerged following a series of investigations. More recently, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) issued warnings to consumers, alerting them to the presence of contaminated cough syrups, antibiotics, and other pediatric treatments circulating in the market.
Can Blockchain Solve the Pharma Crisis?
Using natural language,
Let’s look at how this technology can help solve the pharmaceutical crisis in Nigeria.
Efficient Data Management
In a decentralized system such as blockchain, real-time data exchange occurs amongst various parties including producers, sellers, pharmacies, and regulators. This ensures transparency and accountability by recording each transaction or entry of information as a permanent and unalterable block in the chain. Consequently, an unchangeable audit trail is created.
This system streamlines the management of pharmaceutical inventory, with features that include monitoring expiration dates and tracking batch identification. By doing so, it helps minimize drug waste and ensures timely reordering for uninterrupted supply.
As a analyst, I would explain it this way: I believe that by utilizing the blockchain technology to securely store patient data and medication histories, we can enhance the overall quality of medications and minimize pharmaceutical errors. The immutable and decentralized nature of blockchain ensures the security and authenticity of information exchanged among stakeholders. Furthermore, it streamlines the process of discovering new drugs by facilitating the safe sharing of clinical trial data for collaborative research and development efforts.
Improvement in Clinical Trials
Using Blockchain technology, clinical trials in Nigeria can be made more transparent and compliant. By securely storing patient records, trial protocols, and other vital information on a decentralized platform, there’s no need to worry about data loss or unauthorized alterations or deletions, thus maintaining the integrity of the entire trial process.
Combating Counterfeit Drugs
As a crypto investor and enthusiast of innovative technologies, I’m particularly excited about the role blockchain plays in combating counterfeit pharmaceuticals. By assigning a unique, cryptographic identifier to each unit of medication on the blockchain, we can ensure an unbroken chain of custody from manufacturer to consumer. This way, every transaction is transparently recorded and verified by the network, making it nearly impossible for fake drugs to enter the supply chain.
With the implementation of blockchain technology, medicines can be authenticated swiftly at any point during distribution. Due to its cryptographic security and immutable record, counterfeiters face significant challenges in attempting to introduce false items undetected.
India’s trial with blockchain in pharma
NITI Aayog, India’s leading public policy institute, has initiated a blockchain experiment in the pharmaceutical industry to boost its productivity. According to NITI Aayog, this project employs blockchain technology to guarantee that authentic medicines travel from local pharmacies to retailers, wholesalers, and manufacturers. In this pilot scheme, medicinal products are recorded with licenses and time stamps before being added to a shared ledger accessible to all concerned parties. By using a mobile application, stakeholders can monitor the condition of the medicinal package along with real-time data on ingredients, excipients, license information, temperature, and cold storage availability of drugs.
The Indian government’s initial implementation of this project demonstrated significant improvements in medicine transparency, operational effectiveness, and elimination of adulteration.
Conclusion
Utilizing blockchain technology in the health and pharmaceutical sectors of Nigeria could offer effective responses to the various challenges confronting its citizens. With many nations integrating Blockchain Consensus Technology (BCT) into their administration, it might be worthwhile for the Nigerian government to consider this innovation for the betterment of society.
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2024-06-21 16:05