The leading logistics company DHL has partnered with Blockchain technology consortium Accenture to prevent counterfeit medicine from circulating on the market.

According to a press release, “DHL and Accenture created a blockchain-based serialization prototype with nodes in six geographies to track pharmaceuticals across the supply chain”. The companies state that the prototype can collect more than seven billion unique serial numbers for pharmaceuticals and confirm 1,500 transactions per second. In the near future, this will allow to track medicines from when they have been packed to when they arrive at the final destination, such as pharmacies, hospitals, private doctors.

Interpol's statistics say that every year near one million people die from the use of falsified or substandard medicines. DHL and Accenture believe they can together reduce this shocking number.