Peptides in The Bahamas: A Guide for Bahamian Physicians

Who this guide is for

This guide is for the Bahamian physician who wants the facts before forming an opinion. Peptides are not a passing fad: they are one of the most successful drug classes in modern medicine¹. But in The Bahamas the conversation often reaches the clinic through other doors: GLP-1 drugs bought from unregulated sources¹⁵, prescription medicines sold over the counter⁹¹⁰, and a new wave of longevity and regenerative clinics licensed under a 2024 law¹²²⁰. Here is what the evidence shows, what Bahamian law requires, and what regulators and the local press have reported.

Peptides: an established drug class

Since insulin, more than 80 peptide drugs have reached the market for diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, HIV infection and chronic pain¹. The incretin drugs changed obesity medicine. In STEP 1, adults with obesity on weekly semaglutide lost a mean 14.9 % of body weight at 68 weeks versus 2.4 % with placebo³. In SURMOUNT-1, tirzepatide produced mean losses of up to 20.9 % at 72 weeks versus 3.1 % with placebo⁴. In SELECT, 17,604 adults with cardiovascular disease and overweight or obesity but no diabetes had a 20 % lower risk of cardiovascular death, non-fatal heart attack or non-fatal stroke with semaglutide (hazard ratio 0.80)². In the United States, 12 % of adults said in November 2025 that they were currently taking a GLP-1 drug⁵.

What Bahamian law says: medicines and pharmacies

The core statute is the Pharmacy Act, 2009 (Chapter 227), which establishes the Bahamas Pharmacy Council (section 3) to regulate and control the practice of pharmacy (section 4)⁶.

• What is a drug. The Act defines a drug broadly as any substance or preparation intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation or treatment or prevention of disease in a human or animal, or, other than food, to affect the structure or any function of the body (section 2). The label a seller chooses does not change that⁶.
• Registered premises. No one may operate a pharmacy unless it is registered under the Act (section 6(1)); registration lasts one year and may be suspended or revoked (sections 6(5) and 8)⁶.
• Who may dispense. No person may compound, dispense, retail or store for sale any drug unless it is done on registered pharmacy premises and by a registered pharmacist or pharmacy technician (section 24(1))⁶.
• Prescriptions. Only persons authorised under a licence may write or issue a prescription, and every pharmacist must ensure the prescription carries the genuine signature of the issuing practitioner (section 30)⁶.
• Internet pharmacy. "No person shall establish or engage in the practise of internet pharmacy in any form" (section 25(3))⁶.
• Quality and imports. Drugs manufactured, sold, imported or exported must meet a prescribed international pharmacopoeia standard (section 27(1)), with fines of up to $20,000 (section 27(2)); importation is governed by the Customs Management Act (section 28); importing drugs for storage and wholesale distribution requires a registered warehouse (section 33)⁶.
• Penalties. Practising unregistered as a pharmacist or technician: up to $10,000 plus $1,000 a day (section 9(8)); obstructing an inspector: up to $5,000 (section 43(2)); any offence without a stated penalty: up to $10,000 (section 49)⁶.

What the law does not yet have is product registration. "The Bahamas currently does not have a national drug registration system," Chief Pharmacist Dr Gina Archer told The Tribune in February 2026, adding that a Medical Products Bill to govern which medicines may enter the country, who may import and distribute them and how violations are penalised is nearing completion⁹. The 2025 health package also included a Pharmacy Bill that, in the Prime Minister's words, allows "secure electronic prescription systems that reduce errors and prevent fraud"¹⁴.

What Bahamian law says: physicians

The Medical Act (Chapter 224), a 2014 revising Act that repealed the 1974 Medical Act, provides "for the regulation of the medical practice in The Bahamas" through the Bahamas Medical Council, which must register and license persons who satisfy the Act's requirements (section 6) and holds disciplinary powers⁸. Under the Medical Regulations, every medical practitioner must comply with the Code of Professional Conduct in the Schedule, and failure to do so after written notice may lead to disciplinary proceedings (regulation 3); licence renewal requires twenty continuing medical education credits in the preceding twelve months (regulation 5(6))⁷.

What Bahamian law says: longevity and regenerative therapies

The Longevity and Regenerative Therapies Act, 2024 (LARTA) replaced the 2013 Stem Cell Research and Therapy Act after passing the House of Assembly in July 2024¹³. According to the bill text published by the Office of the Attorney General, its "Field" includes gene and stem cell therapies, advanced longevity therapies, immunotherapies, regenerative therapies, functional medicines and gerontology (section 2)¹². Every application must be approved by the National Longevity and Regenerative Therapy Ethics Review Committee before distribution or research starts (section 13(1)), and no therapy may begin until the Board issues written authorisation (section 14)¹². Facilities must be licensed under the Hospitals and Health Care Facilities Act (section 20), and any breach carries "a fine of a minimum of twenty-five thousand dollars or to a term of imprisonment minimum of two years, or to both" (section 23)¹².

Recent cases in The Bahamas

• Prescription drugs without a prescription (2025–2026). A Tribune operative bought antibiotics at three New Providence pharmacies in under 90 minutes in August 2025 and obtained prescription-only drugs in 8 of 13 encounters at 10 pharmacies in January 2026⁹. The Ministry of Health and Wellness called the practice "unlawful" and "unsafe"¹⁰; the Bahamas Pharmaceutical Association president said "If you're doing it, stop it" and that no full-time inspector has been appointed since 2009¹¹.
• GLP-1 black market (2026). The country's only full-time endocrinologist said demand for drugs such as Ozempic and Mounjaro from unregulated sources is rising, with monthly costs of $250 to more than $1,500 and no coverage under the national drug plan; the Wellness Minister has said NHI will be expanded to cover GLP-1 drugs¹⁵.
• Stem cells for paediatric autism (2026). Doctors Hospital and Bahamas NeuroGen plan a Blake Road centre offering autologous stem cell therapy, starting with paediatric autism, under LARTA²⁰.

The evidence map

Not everything sold as a "peptide" sits at the same level of evidence. GLP-1 drugs have phase 3 trials with hard cardiovascular outcomes². At the other end, a systematic review of BPC-157 found 35 preclinical studies and a single clinical study, a retrospective series in which 7 of 12 patients with chronic knee pain reported relief for more than six months after one intra-articular injection; no clinical safety data were found¹⁷. In between sits the US regulatory debate: in July 2026 the FDA's Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee voted in favour of six of seven peptides reviewed, including BPC-157, TB-500, epitalon and semax, with emideltide rejected¹⁹.

Safety

Approved peptides have well-characterised safety profiles: in SELECT, 16.6 % of semaglutide patients and 8.2 % of placebo patients stopped treatment because of adverse events². PAHO warned in March 2026 that GLP-1 drugs bought online or through social media may be falsified or substandard, and listed pancreatitis, gallbladder problems and bowel obstruction among less frequent but potentially serious events¹⁶. For research peptides the main problem is the lack of human studies rather than a proven harm signal¹⁷. Serious documented events are rare: at the 2025 RAADfest in Las Vegas, two women became critically ill and were intubated after peptide injections; both recovered, Nevada's pharmacy board could not determine the cause, and it fined those involved for unlicensed practice and unlicensed wholesaling¹⁸. As the Bahamian cases show, the most concrete risk is the product's origin: The Tribune documented unlabelled medicines, dosage errors and products from unverified manufacturers⁹.

What it means for practice

Patients will arrive with these questions, or with these products. Prescriptions in The Bahamas can only come from licensed practitioners, and dispensing belongs in registered pharmacies⁶. Because there is no product registration, the physician cannot rely on a registration number to confirm what a patient bought⁹; asking where it came from is part of the history. Regenerative or longevity procedures need LARTA ethics approval and Board authorisation before they start¹². And PAHO has urged countries to strengthen pharmacovigilance so that adverse events are detected and reported, including those linked to procurement through unauthorised channels¹⁶. The physician who knows the evidence and the law becomes the patient's reference point; if patients do not find that in the clinic, they will look for it on social media.