DrugSure: A Blockchain-Based Framework for Secure Medicine Authentication and Anti-Counterfeit Drug Verification

Counterfeit and low-quality drugs are a serious concern for public health, especially in developing and low- to middleincome nations. Lack of transparency, centralized control, and poor traceability systems in the traditional pharmaceutical supply chain create opportunities for counterfeit drugs to enter the market. The existing technology using barcodes and centralized databases has been prone to weaknesses like tampering, duplication, and a lack of public trust. Recently, blockchain technology has received considerable attention as a promising approach for secure drug validation because of its decentralized, immutable, and transparent properties. This survey paper examines and discusses the existing blockchain solutions for medicine authentication and anti-counterfeit drug verification. Different system designs, such as fully on-chain, hybrid on-chain/offchain, permissioned, and public blockchain designs, have been considered. The paper also points out the important issues of scalability, cost, privacy, and usability, and the research gaps and future work for designing efficient and user-friendly medicine validation systems.