The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA), working with the South African Pharmacy Council (SAPC), has taken strong action against the unlawful manufacture and distribution of unregistered GLP-1 medicines used for weight loss.
Days after IOL's investigation into South Africa's unregulated aesthetics industry laid bare the dangers lurking beneath the country's booming beauty economy, a fresh regulatory storm is gathering, this time targeting the exploding market for compounded versions of blockbuster weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro.
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA), working alongside the South African Pharmacy Council (SAPC), has executed its most significant enforcement action yet in the GLP-1 space, raiding a Pretoria-based compounding pharmacy and seizing an entire stockpile of unregistered injectable products.
The raid has ignited a fiery legal dispute, and experts warn the crackdown signals the beginning of the end for South Africa's largely unregulated compounded weight-loss drug market.
On May 11, 2026, SAHPRA and SAPC conducted a joint inspection at iDexis (Pty) Ltd, trading as Sentra Pharmacy in Silverton, Pretoria. What inspectors found, according to SAHPRA's official media release, was deeply troubling.
