Integrity of the Supply of Botanical Medicines: Evaluating Blockchain, Handheld Hyperspectral and Raman Methods for Quality Assurance and Safety in Medicinal Natural Product Value-Chains

Botanical medicine supply chains are an integral part of the global healthcare system, and as adulteration, contamination and fraud are common, safeguards and protections against these issues are required. Poor-quality medicines pose significant public health risks and also undermine consumer and patient trust in medicinal natural products, with negative implications for drug discovery and the development of novel therapeutics. At present, there are limited options for portable analytical instruments and methods to detect fraudulent products. With quality control approaches focusing on the end of the supply chain. This thesis aims to present a foundational study to help develop a framework that integrates research insights to combat fraud and build trust in the botanical medicine supply chains by assessing research into portable spectroscopy and blockchain technology. The project involved two core aspects: an experimental approach to investigate the application of portable spectroscopy, particularly near-infrared and Raman spectroscopy, for the quality assessment of liquorice and turmeric products. The project focused on analysing products with minimal destruction. It assessed the potential of these techniques to analyse key chemical markers of quality and the devices' ability to discriminate between the geographic origin and species of the products. The second core aspect was a literature review that assessed the uses and applications of blockchain technology to address fundamental concerns and potential solutions facing the botanical medicine sector. Namely, it examines the potential role of decentralised science and decentralised autonomous organisations, exploring theoretical frameworks that seek to link these two disciplines. The results from NIR and Raman spectroscopy demonstrate that these tools may have potential for differentiating plant species and detecting adulterants, yet are best suited as complementary tools to standard lab-based practices. It assesses two primary case studies: Turmeric and Liquorice. However, limitations in experimental procedures require that further work is needed to validate these results. Finally, blockchain technology is highlighted as a novel, emerging field that can help restore trust and address long-standing issues facing the botanical medicine community of patients, scientists, and companies.