What we know so far
South Africa’s medicines regulator is warning the public against buying unregistered weight-loss peptides after an investigation found the experimental drug retatrutide and similar compounds being sold openly in Johannesburg gyms and on social media.
The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) states on its official public information page that it “warns of the growing sale and use of unregistered peptide products in South Africa,” listing weight loss, muscle growth and anti-ageing among the uses these products are marketed for.
The warning follows a Mail & Guardian investigation published on July 2, 2026, which traced a rapidly growing market for products labelled as retatrutide, sold through social media, digital marketplaces, wellness clinics and informal gym networks. The investigation was further unpacked by health journalism unit Bhekisisa in a broadcast segment on July 8.
Speaking to the Mail & Guardian, SAHPRA regulatory compliance manager Mokgadi Fafudi confirmed the products under scrutiny have not been approved for any use in South Africa. “It is still under clinical investigation,” she said of retatrutide specifically. “It’s not even yet available in any market as approved for routine sale.”
Why it matters
Retatrutide is an experimental obesity drug still in clinical trials globally, with early results that have outperformed approved medicines such as semaglutide (Ozempic) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro). It has not been approved for commercial sale or human consumption by any regulator worldwide, including SAHPRA.
The high cost of registered next-generation weight-loss medicines has left many South Africans priced out, creating demand that unregistered sellers are moving to fill. According to the Mail & Guardian investigation, a month’s supply of a product marketed as pharmaceutical-grade retatrutide was being sold for R3 000 at a Johannesburg gym.
SAHPRA’s public information page states that any product intended to treat, prevent or alter bodily functions must be registered with the regulator before sale, under the Medicines and Related Substances Act, 101 of 1965. Fafudi rejected the argument used by underground sellers that labelling a product “Research Grade” or “Not for Human Consumption” exempts it from this requirement. “There is no product on the market that is a scheduled substance without us having evaluated and approved it,” she said.
Johannesburg endocrinologist Professor Zaheer Bayat told the Mail & Guardian his practice has seen a rise in patients asking about these products, warning that they “bypass the standard pathways of pharmacovigilance, quality control and prescriber accountability.”
Key details and figures
SAHPRA’s public advisory lists a range of unregistered peptides circulating in South Africa beyond retatrutide, including BPC-157, TB-500, Melanotan II, CJC-1295, Ipamorelin, PT-141, AOD-9604, Selank and Semax. The Mail & Guardian investigation additionally identified Cagrilintide, Tesamorelin, GHK-Cu and injectable NAD+ being marketed alongside retatrutide.
The regulator’s advisory warns that unregistered peptide products carry risks including infections from non-sterile injectable use, hormonal disruption, harmful drug interactions, possible tumour stimulation and exposure to counterfeit or contaminated products. Fafudi told the Mail & Guardian that consumers “don’t even know the composition of whatever you are buying,” and that products injected into the body must be manufactured under sterile conditions that unregulated sellers cannot guarantee.
This is not SAHPRA’s first warning on the category. In a media statement dated November 11, 2025, the regulator’s chief executive, Dr Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela, said SAHPRA was “monitoring the supply chain as well as the online platforms for unregistered, substandard, and falsified medicines containing or claiming to contain GLP-1 substances,” after finding sellers falsely claiming SAHPRA approval and shipping products from China rather than local warehouses as advertised.
Pharmaceutical Task Group chairperson Stavros Nicolaou, whose organisation represents licensed pharmacy and manufacturing interests, told the Mail & Guardian that the trade “raises important questions about compliance with South Africa’s medicines regulatory framework, particularly where products are imported, manufactured, distributed or promoted outside the legal requirements.”
South Africa’s experience mirrors warnings issued elsewhere. New Zealand’s medicines regulator, Medsafe, has issued a consumer advisory on unapproved peptide products, cautioning that products marketed as peptides frequently fail to contain their advertised ingredients and are rarely sterile, and specifically flagging retatrutide as investigational only.
What happens next
Fafudi told the Mail & Guardian that SAHPRA has already seized substantial quantities of illicit peptides, opened formal criminal cases, and referred licensed healthcare professionals caught distributing the substances to the Health Professions Council of South Africa and the South African Pharmacy Council. Investigators are also tracing shipments in which active pharmaceutical ingredients were allegedly mislabelled as industrial chemicals to bypass import controls, before being packaged into finished injection pens domestically. Fafudi declined to give further detail, citing active investigations.
SAHPRA said it is expanding surveillance and enforcement, working with customs officials, law enforcement, professional councils and online platforms to take down illicit storefronts, and is developing artificial intelligence tools to scan local online platforms for illegal pharmaceutical advertising in real time. Fafudi acknowledged the limits of this approach against a market that shifts to encrypted messaging apps and private groups: “You close this and others pop up.”
SAHPRA is urging anyone who has bought products marketed as retatrutide or any other unregistered peptide to stop using them immediately, retain the physical packaging, and report the seller to the regulator via its whistleblower channel or 24-hour hotline, so investigators can trace the supply chain back to its source. It remains unclear how many South Africans have already used these products, or whether any adverse events linked to them have been formally recorded by SAHPRA’s pharmacovigilance system.
