Computerized drug verification system: A panacea for effective drug verification

Abstract

Computerized Drug Verification System (CDVS) is a research work geared towards establishing the means of identifying authentic drugs in Nigeria with emphasis on identifying the manufacturing date and expiration date respectively using an interactive mobile app. At the point of drug purchase, only few drugs have methods of verifying their authenticity using both Personal Identification Number (PIN) and National Agency for Food and Drug Administration Control (NAFDAC) number. However, the production and expiry dates of such drugs are not always known, hence drugs that have long expired may still report authentic thereby endangering the lives of the consumers. This research addresses the challenges providing an interactive platform for drug verification, with especially strength in its ability to incorporate the manufacturing date, the manufacturer, expiry date and the authentication of drugs. The product of this research, "NAFDAC VERIFY" an interactive mobile and web application can be used in verifying the authenticity of drugs in Nigeria in partnership with Mobile Authentication Service (MAS). This system which runs both on android mobile phones and web-based have been tested using some raw data and the system proves to be very robust and achieves the set out objectives.