Fake Cancer Drug Operation: atv News Report

This atv Haber report tells how police broke up a gang producing fake cancer drug products. The gang targeted the medicines that patients in treatment buy in hope of recovery. What is more, it had set up four separate warehouses for the job. The video is in Turkish.

What does the report cover?

According to the report, the operation seized 5 million fake medicines worth 2 billion Turkish lira. Police arrested six people. The report also shows how patients can protect themselves. They can scan the QR code on the box with the mobile app of Turkey’s Drug Tracking System (İTS). If the app warns that “this medicine is not registered in the system”, the product in your hands is fake. In that case, the app asks you to report it to the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency.

What feeds the fake cancer drug trade?

The QR code check is a strong shield for consumers. However, the counterfeiter’s biggest asset is the packaging of the genuine product. Especially for expensive, specialised medicines, the original box, leaflet and bottle are valuable raw material in the counterfeiter’s eyes. For example, anyone with the box or empty bottle of a used medicine can fill it with a fake product. They can then put it back on the market. For this reason, you must destroy expired, recalled or damaged medicines completely, on record and together with their packaging.

In drug disposal, the risk gathers at known points: the warehouse, transport, the disposal facility and the hospital. In fact, even an empty box from a hospital can turn into a fake cancer drug in the wrong hands.

What should pharmaceutical companies do?

To keep your product out of the fake cancer drug chain, four steps make the difference:

• Right after the count, wrap the pallet in stretch film and close it with a dedicated security tape.
• Seal the transport vehicle with a serial-numbered seal that reveals any tampering; an ordinary plastic cable tie is not a seal.
• Have the disposal done at a licensed facility, stay on site and record the process with photos and video.
• Include boxes, leaflets and bottles in the scope of disposal.

Scrap carries out these steps at every stage of pharmaceutical disposal. It gathers all records on its client’s online tracking portal. For background, see our article on the security of the official disposal process. For the service itself, see our pharmaceutical waste disposal page.

Source: atv Haber, “Sahte kanser ilacı ürettiler!” (They produced fake cancer drugs!), 11 February 2025. We embed the video from the publisher’s YouTube channel. All rights belong to atv Haber. Watch the original video on YouTube.