Secure verification of pharmaceuticals for UNICEF’s TRVST application
Goal
Origimed developed the mobile medicines verification app TRVST in partnership with Solidsoft Reply from the UK. TRVST is being generated under the Verification and Traceability Initiative (VTI), a multi-stakeholder collaboration composed of UNICEF, Gavi, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Global Fund, USAID, Vital Wave, and the World Bank. It is a collaboratively designed solution that allows countries to verify the authenticity of health products and track and trace them through their supply chain.
Challenge
Origimed initially opted for open-source barcode scanning technology, choosing the ZXing library. However, ZXing proved too slow and unreliable. Furthermore, it did not support newer iOS devices – a dealbreaker. Therefore, the SaaS company sought a scanner SDK that combines speed, accuracy, and wide device compatibility to provide clients with a seamless user experience. Additionally, the scanning components had to be available for a fixed annual license fee, as the growth of the app’s monthly active users (MAUs) could not be predicted. Volume-based pricing, in contrast, could impede the app’s widespread adoption and defeat its purpose.
Solution
The Scanbot Barcode Scanner SDK was the perfect solution for Origimed. Barcode scanning now takes just one second, even under challenging circumstances, such as low lighting or distorted codes. It works on all common iOS and Android devices, whether older or newer, and users are satisfied with the quality of the scanning experience. Additionally, Scanbot SDK’s fixed annual licensing model allows Origimed to calculate the costs accurately, regardless of the TRVST app’s success.
Key Results
High customer satisfaction
Fast & reliable scanning
Compability with new and old devices
Origimed & Scanbot SDK – working together to ensure the safety of medical products across the world
Counterfeit medicines are estimated to have caused up to 169,000 deaths of children under five suffering from pneumonia and up to 116,000 deaths from falsified medication to treat malaria.
TRVST relies on a global repository that stores health product information provided by medical product manufacturers. The mobile app allows users, such as healthcare workers, regulatory authorities, and customs agents, to use a phone application to scan medical product barcodes and verify their authenticity in real time.
Initially, Origimed’s team opted for the open-source barcode library ZXingt, which quickly proved unsuitable. The scanning speed fell far short of expectations, while scratched or otherwise damaged barcodes could often not be read at all. ZXing is also no longer actively developed, resulting in incompatibility with newer and older iOS devices.
Origimed had to find an alternative solution.
With an accuracy of 98.7% even under difficult scanning conditions, such as inadequate lighting and corrupted barcodes, and a scanning speed of 0.3 seconds per barcode, the Scanbot SDK was the perfect solution for Origimed. Its integration went smoothly, and all issues were quickly solved by Scanbot’s developers.
The annual fixed licensing model and first-class support provided a scalable alternative to the open-source library used at first. TRVST can be used by an unlimited number of users every month, protecting the health of millions of patients across the world.
The Scanbot Scanner SDK helped us to solve our issue of providing our users with a quick and reliable scanning application for the purpose of medical pack verification. The Scanbot SDK team was very responsive and helpful, making the integration of their solution an easy task.
Let’s take a look at Origimed’s workflow inside the TRVST app
- A user wants to verify a medical product.
- They open the TRVST application and scan the GS1 barcode using the integrated Scanbot SDK. This takes just 1 second.
- The decoded data is sent to the backend for instant verification.
- Success! The medical product is genuine and safe to use.
