This paper describes an application, built on top of the Hyperledger Fabric blockchain framework, for efficient and reliable support of the supply chain in the pharmaceutical industry. The presented application showcases how blockchain’s immutable ledger, peer-to-peer (P2P) network, consensus algorithms, and smart contracts all combine and synergize to create a secure, reliable, auditable, and cheaper way of performing business. The application is developed on the Proof of Concept (PoC) level, using the Hyperledger Composer framework. It enables communication with a private Hyperledger Fabric network via Create, Read, Update, and Delete (CRUD) operations. The developed PoC shows that the use of the Hyperledger Composer framework allows simple creation of business networks which include participants, assets, transactions, and relationships between these entities. Our research shows that Hyperledger Composer significantly reduces the amount of time needed to develop a Hyperledger Fabric blockchain-based software solution. However, for more customized approaches, the Hyperledger Fabric platform needs to be used directly on the infrastructure level. When using Fabric, smart contracts are written on the lower level of abstraction, using the Go programming language, instead of the high-level JavaScript code used in Composer. Plans for future work include implementing the solution directly on the Hyperledger Fabric platform, as well as extending the available functionalities of the application to cover an even wider set of use cases.
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