Anvisa Bans Gluconex and Tirzedral, Creates Groups to Police Weight-Loss Pens

Overview

• This week, Anvisa set up two time‑bound working groups to study real‑world use and risks of GLP‑1 weight‑loss drugs and to track a new action plan.
• Anvisa also outlawed the sale, import, distribution and use of Gluconex and Tirzedral and ordered their seizure because the tirzepatide pens lack registration and clear origin.
• Customs data show a surge in illegal supply, with about one tonne of powdered peptides seized in more than 700 parcels at Viracopos in the first quarter, including the experimental drug retatrutide.
• Enforcement has widened to travel routes, with a passenger stopped at Rio’s Galeão carrying 324 vials from Paraguay and police flagging a bus case with 1,000 tirzepatide pens.
• Anvisa signed letters of intent with the federal councils of medicine, pharmacy and dentistry to promote safer prescribing, improve adverse‑event reporting and tighten controls on compounding and traceability.