{
  "id": 16182731,
  "title": "BHEKISISA: SA’s regulators are struggling to keep up with black market weight-loss jabs",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/23/bhekisisa-sas-regulators-are-struggling-to-keep-up-with-black-market",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-10-23T12:13:19.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Daily Maverick",
    "slug": "daily-maverick",
    "url": "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-10-23-sas-regulators-are-struggling-to-keep-up-with-black-market-weight-loss-jabs/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "South African regulators have won a court battle against a pharmacy producing counterfeit weight-loss injections, but illegal and experimental drugs continue to be sold openly. New rules to combat the trade are months away. Australia has banned pharmacy compounding of weight-loss drugs, labeling them as \"potentially unsafe and dangerous.\" South African compounding pharmacies are still making and selling unregistered versions of popular weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro. In June, the Gauteng High Court ordered iDexis to stop producing semaglutide-based weight-loss jabs after seizing large quantities. While this was a legal victory, Sahpra chairperson Stavros Nicolaou warned that momentum could be lost if regulators do not act swiftly to provide clearer guidelines for compounding pharmacies. Illegal weight-loss jabs are sold in plain sight, with some even openly available in South Africa. A Johannesburg woman was allegedly sold retatrutide, an unlicensed weight-loss injection, by her doctor. Regulators are working to crack down on the trade, but revised guidelines for compounding pharmacies are not expected until February or March next year, according to the South African Pharmacy Council.",
  "summary": "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.",
  "key_points": [
    "South African regulators won court battle against counterfeit weight-loss injection producer.",
    "Illegal and experimental drugs still openly sold in South Africa.",
    "Revised guidelines for compounding pharmacies expected in February or March."
  ],
  "editors_take": "The delay in establishing new regulatory guidelines leaves a dangerous gap for compounding pharmacies to exploit, allowing unlicensed and potentially unsafe weight-loss injections to remain accessible to the public.",
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}