{"id":603726,"date":"2026-05-25T22:55:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T22:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/603726\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T22:55:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T22:55:10","slug":"sahpra-cracks-down-on-illegal-weight-loss-drugs-as-glp-1-demand-booms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/603726\/","title":{"rendered":"Sahpra cracks down on illegal weight-loss drugs as GLP-1 demand booms"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">South Africa\u2019s medicines regulator and pharmacy watchdog have intensified a crackdown on the unlawful manufacture and distribution of unregistered GLP-1 medicines as concerns mount over the rapid growth of the country\u2019s largely unregulated weight loss drug market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra), working alongside the South African Pharmacy Council (SAPC), confirmed it has seized multiple injectable products after an inspection at iDexis Compounding, trading as Sentra Pharmacy, in Silverton, Pretoria.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The crackdown comes amid booming global demand for GLP-1 therapies \u2014 a class of drugs that mimic a natural hormone in the body that regulates blood sugar levels and reduces appetite \u2014 which have become one of the pharmaceutical industry\u2019s fastest-growing segments as obesity treatments reshape the healthcare market.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The regulators allege the pharmacy was manufacturing and distributing unregistered GLP-1 medicines \u2014 including semaglutide, tirzepatide and combination formulations \u2014 under the guise of pharmaceutical compounding, in contravention of the Medicines &amp; Related Substances Act.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessday.co.za\/news\/2026-05-25-sahpra-cracks-down-on-illegal-weight-loss-drug-trade-as-market-booms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.businessday.co.za\/news\/2026-05-25-sahpra-cracks-down-on-illegal-weight-loss-drug-trade-as-market-booms\/\">Click here<\/a> to read more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Africa\u2019s medicines regulator and pharmacy watchdog have intensified a crackdown on the unlawful manufacture and distribution of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603727,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[205834,205850,102,205852,6591,3100,205853,155906,203600,205849,16839,205835,205851,205833,8667,16837,56,54,55,205837],"class_list":["post-603726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-boitumelo-semete-makokotlela","tag-glp-1-medicines","tag-health","tag-idexis-compounding","tag-medication","tag-medicine","tag-medicines-related-substances-act","tag-pharmacovigilance","tag-sahpra","tag-sapc","tag-semaglutide","tag-sentra-pharmacy","tag-south-african-health-products-regulatory-authority","tag-south-african-pharmacy-council","tag-therapy","tag-tirzepatide","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-vincent-tlala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603726"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603726\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}