A blockchain-based framework for drug security: Leveraging EdDSA to prevent counterfeiting

Drug counterfeiting is one of the most serious public health problems in the world, reducing consumer trust and costing hundreds of billions of dollars annually. However, the pharmaceutical supply chain monitoring system lacks traceability, unauthorized distribution, or weak regulatory enforcement. While frameworks leveraging the advantages of blockchains have great promise, they primarily depend on Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) and the elliptic curve digital signature (ECDSA) algorithm. These algorithms lead to high computational costs and long processing times. They are also susceptible to side-channel attacks. This paper presents an Edwards-curve Digital Signature Algorithm (EdDSA) enabled blockchain-based framework for the pharmaceutical supply chain. It combines a decentralized ledger acting as an immutable and auditable record of the payments, and a QR-code verification module allowing consumers to check the products on the spot. The EdDSA algorithm enhances the functionality of the system with fast signature generation and verification. In addition, it has a higher resilience and efficiency against cryptographic attacks and is resource-efficient. Through the experimental evaluation, it is shown that the proposed framework achieves superior performance in transaction throughput, execution time, and energy efficiency in comparison to the state-of-the-art methods while obtaining a comparable level of security guarantees. Finally, the EdDSA-based framework not only improves transparency and security by mitigating the threats to public health safety but also encourages the stakeholders to make the right decisions, paving the way to a counterfeit-free global market for pharmaceuticals.