Black market weight-loss drug sellers are moving fast. South Africa’s regulators are struggling to keep up
South African regulators have won an important court battle against a pharmacy making its own versions of popular weight-loss injections. But illegal and experimental drugs are still being sold openly, while new rules to crack down on the trade are months away. Why is the country struggling to stop the sellers — and how can consumers tell whether the medicines they're buying are safe? The post…
South Africa's regulators are struggling to combat the surge in illegal black market weight-loss drug sellers. South African pharmacies, legally permitted to create medicines for specific patients, are manufacturing weight-loss injections in bulk without the necessary manufacturing licenses. In June, the Gauteng High Court ordered iDexis, a Tshwane-based compounding pharmacy, to halt production of semaglutide-containing medicines, the active ingredient in Ozempic.
However, experimental weight-loss drugs such as retatrutide, which has not been approved for sale anywhere globally, are still openly sold in South Africa. Regulatory bodies claim clearer rules for pharmacies producing their own medicines will arrive by February or March 2027, but this delay gives illegal sellers more time to operate.
Written by urgent.news from Bhekisisa's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
