RxAll, the Nigerian startup tackling the global problem of counterfeit drugs, received the €100,000 Global Challenge prize from BNP Paribas, Global Partner of Hello Tomorrow.
RxAll’s digital platform enables anyone to test the quality of their drugs using a portable nanoscanner and mobile app. Their proprietary machine learning algorithm reads the scan from the nanoscanner, identifies the drug and assesses its level of quality, records the test result against a blockchain ledger and returns the quality report to the mobile app in 20 seconds.
“It’s been a long journey, from nearly dying from a fake drug 15 years ago, to being with you here today,” said RxAll CEO Adebayo Alonge. “The solution that we have today means that nobody has to go through what I did.”
Fake medication is a $30 billion industry that poses significant risk to patients throughout the world, especially in developing nations. In 2017, fake drugs were responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide, and centralized regulatory oversight is often unable to keep up with the speed at which counterfeiters produce new drugs.
RxAll’s platform solves this problem by providing real-time drug authentication in the palm of your hand.
The £100,000 prize recogizes the best early-stage startup from among a field of 80 finalists across 12 categories, including aeronautics; data and AI, digital health; energy; food, agriculture, and environment; global health; industrial biotech; industry 4.0; new materials; new mobility; new space; and wellbeing. The prize is funded by BNP Paribas.