Combating Counterfeit And Smuggled Drugs

Foreign pharmaceutical trademarks, in principle, are registered in the name of the companies in the countries where they are established, and trademark protection procedures are managed by those companies. Although affiliates in Türkiye are not a party to trademark protection proceedings, since they become the marketing authorization holders of the drug, they are considered the relevant addressee of the Ministry of Health (“MoH”) in all transactions related to the product.

The Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency ("Agency") is responsible for regulating and supervising drugs and other healthcare products. The Drug Tracking System ("DTS") has been developed to combat drug smuggling and counterfeiting; all drugs are registered with a unit based QR code and every transaction is tracked from the moment it enters the market until it reaches the patient. Marketing authorization holders in Türkiye must notify the Agency of any counterfeiting and smuggling activities