PharmVerify

Demo

About

Why are you participating for Based Africa? I'm excited to take part in Based Africa because I believe technology has the power to solve some of our biggest challenges, especially in healthcare. Counterfeit drugs are a real threat that puts both doctors and patients at risk, but it's often overlooked. Counterfeit drugs otherwise known as Fake drugs has been produced by illegal manufacturers without credible licenses. I am a Nigerian, and over the years I have seen firsthand the dangers of people consuming drugs not knowing how authentic it is. That's why we developed PharmVerify to help solve this issue by making it easier for people across Nigeria and Africa at large to check the authenticity of their medicines and pharmaceutical products. I'm really passionate about this solution, especially because it can have a big impact on communities that need it most. I'm eager to help create a healthier and safer future for everyone in Africa Additional Features I built this project from scratch during the Buildathon. I added features to let manufacturers create an account uploading their licences and cerifications, to add product details and licences. I added the QR codes generation, so instead of revealing codes, its embedded in a QR code which can be scanned easily. The QR codes can then be downloaded and printed on drug packets. I also configured the application to use Coinbase wallet. We also implemented a feature: Consumer feedback loop, where users can report issues regarding the product directly through the app, creating a direct channel of communication between consumers and manufacturers. This can help Manufacturers track products using their batch Number to know issues concerning a product and how best to deal with it We will also be exploring additional features in future. a) Users can leave review, rating and comments for medications. So that the public can see the manufacturers ratings and choose their product wisely. b) We also plan to include real time notification and alerts when a product they scan is flagged as counterfeit. c) As we plan to reach more people, we are implementing multiple language feature d) We plan to allow patients to connect with verified healthcare professionals directly through the dApp for consultations and recommendations of genuine pharmaceutical products

How it's made

What challenges are you focusing on? We are addressing the problem of high rise in the production of fake drugs in Africa's pharmaceutical market. The challenge of fake drugs is a serious health crisis that affects millions of people every year causing sickness leading to death. Also people are not enlightened on this causes and don't know what to check to verify the authenticity of any drug in the market, they most times rely heavily on what people says which can be wrong. This challenge is compounded by the lack of transparency and system for checking the authenticity of their products making it easier for the counterfeiters to continue the bad act. How does your submission address this challenge? PharmVerify tackles the problem of counterfeit drugs by giving consumers a simple, powerful tool to check if their medication is authentic from verified and credible drug manufacturers. Our app uses blockchain technology to create a secure platform where pharmaceutical companies can register their products and generate unique QR codes for each packet. Building on Base helps with a lot of benefits like low-cost, and secure transactions. Base provides significant lower gas fees so the manufacturers don't spend alot to generate codes for their products. After a manufacturer has registered, PharmVerify does inspection and verifies the authenticity of their licences and certifications before they are allowed to create products. On the other hand, a consumer only needs to scan the code, and they’ll know right away if the medicine is authentic by reveiwing the product and manufacturer details . This not only protects consumers but also holds manufacturers accountable, making the entire supply chain more transparent. Users can also report issues concerning the product directly to the manufacturers. Since we use blockchain, the records are tamper-proof, greatly reducing the chances of fake drugs slipping through. Challenges we ran into a) One of the biggest challenges I faced personally was my lack of experience with Solidity and interacting with it from the frontend. Learning how to navigate Base, optimize gas usage, and work with decentralized technologies took quite a bit of time and effort. Solution: To overcome this, I spent time learning through online courses, reading Base documentation, and engaging in community forums and groups. For interacting with the deployed smart contract, i used useReadContract to read data from the blockchain while useWriteContract to write data to the blockchain. Both from wagmi. I also used foundry to deploy smart contracts to the Base network. I also worked on small projects to practice with Solidity before applying them to PharmVerify. b) Another challenge I faced was deciding on the best approach for users or consumers to interact with the platform easily without having much technical background. Solution: I decided to embed the unique codes in QR codes making it easier for them to just scan and verify the product instantly. c) One other challenge I encounted was creating a user-friendly frontend UI/UX. The complexity of the decentralized nature of the platform, along with managing blockchain transactions, posed significant challenges in making the interface easy to navigate, especially for non-technical users. Solution: To address the challenge, I focused on simplifying the user journey by designing a clear, step-by-step process for key actions like registering manufacturers, adding new products, generating unique packet codes and downloading of the QR codes. I also leveraged modern frontend frameworks like next js along with user-centric design principles to create a more seamless experience.