Counterfeit Cancer Drugs Are A Big Money Maker for Fake Drug Criminals

In February 2012, The US Food and Drug Administration sent out what would turn out to be the first of three different warnings about a counterfeit version of the cancer treatment Avastin having infiltrated the secure US supply chain.¹ As of June 2012, 134 doctors in 28 states have received warnings for doing business with the Canadian-based supplier of the counterfeit Avastin.²

The counterfeit Avastin incidences are just one example of cancer drugs being counterfeited and sold to unsuspecting patients for profit. In 2010, an Arizona judge sentenced a Canadian citizen to prison for his role in selling a fake version of the experimental cancer drug dichloroacetate (DCA) to cancer sufferers via his fake online pharmacy. His customers paid over $100 each for simple sugar compounds passed off as DCA.³

WCVB in Boston released a report on March 22, 2013, showing Homeland Security agents running tests on confiscated batches of the cancer drug Sutent which, when tested, were found to be completely without any active ingredient. The pills were actually just a simple sugar.⁴

Counterfeit cancer drugs have been found in the United States,¹ Canada,⁵ the United Kingdom⁶ and other countries in the European Union,⁷ Israel,⁸and China⁹ in the last seven years. The cancer treatments varied, but the one thing they had in common was that they were all fake. Cancer drugs are attractive to counterfeit drug criminals because of their high profit margin. With no testing requirements or actual drug ingredients fake drugs are cheap to produce.

The true cost of counterfeit cancer drugs are paid by the patients who take them. When Maxine Blount of Saint Charles, Missouri noticed she was no longer responding to the Procrit she had been prescribed, she was suspicious. Her nurses eventually figured out that what she had actually taken was a useless counterfeit. Maxine Blount died in 2002 knowing that her suffering had been magnified by the drug counterfeiter who produced the fake Procrit she was taking in the last months of her life.¹⁰

1. Partnership for Safe Medicines, February 14, 2012, “Counterfeit Cancer Medication Found In U.S.,” http://www.safemedicines.org/2012/02/counterfeit-cancer-medication-found-in-us-402.html.

2. Partnership for Safe Medicines, February 5, 2013, “Update On Fake Avastin – Fda Warnings In 28 States, Six Prosecutions,” http://www.safemedicines.org/2013/01/fda-warnings-in28-states-six-prosecutions-511.html.

3. Partnership for Safe Medicines ,September 2, 2010, “Unapproved Cancer Drug Sold Online Found To Be Starch And Sugar,” http://www.safemedicines.org/2010/09/unapproved-cancer-drug-sold-online-found-to-be-starch-and-sugar.html.

4. WCVB.com, March 22, 2013, “Cape Cod counterfeit drug ring focus of federal investigation,” http://www.wcvb.com/news/investigative/Cape-Cod-counterfeit-drug-ring-focus-of-federal-investigation/-/12520878/19425368/-/4iyrsc/-/index.html.

5. Partnership for Safe Medicines, August 7, 2009, “RCMP Seize Fake Cancer Drugs, Viagra In Montreal Raid [Canada],” http://www.safemedicines.org/2009/08/rcmp-seize-fake-cancer-drugs-viagra-in-montreal-raid-canada.html.

6. Partnership for Safe Medicines Counterfeit Drug Incident Encyclopedia, “Thousands Of Fake Pills Removed From Uk Pharmacies,” http://www.safemedicines.org/thousands-of-fake-pills-removed-from-uk-pharmacies.html.

7. Partnership for Safe Medicines Counterfeit Drug Incident Encyclopedia, November 15, 2010, “Fake Cancer Drugs Smuggled Into European Union,” http://www.safemedicines.org/2010/11/fake-cancer-drugs-smuggled-into-european-union-38.html.

8. Partnership for Safe Medicines, February 22, 2012, “Ministry Warns Of Batch Of Cancer Drug In Israel,” http://www.safemedicines.org/2012/02/batch-of-fake-cancer-drug-turns-up-in-israel-409.html.

9. Partnership for Safe Medicines, May 20, 2011, “Fake Cancer Drug Ring Exposed In Chinese Trial,” http://www.safemedicines.org/2011/05/fake-cancer-drug-ring-exposed-in-chinese-trial-253.html.

10. Washington Post, October 22, 2003, “Lax System Allows Criminals To Invade the Supply Chain,” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/28/AR2007062801534.html.