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Peptides: where to begin?
81–90 of 431 posts
Re: Peptides: where to begin?
#82Re: Peptides: where to begin?
#83The author is missing a massive segment of that gray market: people who buy FDA-approved weight loss drugs (e.g., semaglutide or tirzepatide) at 2–5% of the brand-name price. This route carries some risk, but there are ways to mitigate it, such as performing third-party testing. I assume most people who do this couldn't realistically afford the brand-name drug anyway, making this their only viable treatment.
I bought Semaglutide at 50c/mg and had it tested, it's the real deal. What's the normal price, $100/mg? My gf is in medicine so she had a friend test it through their work.
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Re: Peptides: where to begin?
#84The author is missing a massive segment of that gray market: people who buy FDA-approved weight loss drugs (e.g., semaglutide or tirzepatide) at 2–5% of the brand-name price. This route carries some risk, but there are ways to mitigate it, such as performing third-party testing. I assume most people who do this couldn't realistically afford the brand-name drug anyway, making this their only viable treatment.
I bought Semaglutide at 50c/mg and had it tested, it's the real deal. What's the normal price, $100/mg? My gf is in medicine so she had a friend test it through their work.
Won't be anywhere near that. I don't have prices handy, but Lilly sells tirzepatide (a bit better than sema, and usually a bit more expensive) at 500/mo (maybe a bit less now on the trump rx site, I don't recall). Depending on dose, that'll be about 10 bucks a mg give or take. At 50c/mg for sema you were paying a bit of a premium. These days even tirz is only about 30-35c/mg.
Re: Peptides: where to begin?
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Ok, and? According to our new AI overlords, a short synopsis of potential risks of BPC 157 based on mechanistic and animal work to date (don't know human risks because there haven't been sufficient clinical studies): * Possible pathologic angiogenesis (abnormal blood‑vessel growth), which theoretically could support tumor growth or inflammatory and autoimmune processes. * Modulation of nitric‑oxide pathways that, a…
My total layman view is that powerful drugs often have powerful side effects.
That's because you grew up in a society still deeply coded to puritan moral viewpoints.
People for so upset that GLP-1 has no long term side effects.
There's still the crowd completely sure everyone will get HyperCancer in 10 years or something (they won't).
Re: Peptides: where to begin?
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
I imagine it's legally risky to buy a large quantity, test it, and then resell smaller quantities. That's a shame because the alternative is probably that some folks settle for products of dubious quality and end up getting hurt.
Yes, I believe most people buy directly from somewhat shady Chinese factories. I tried contacting a few and they all refuse to meet or send samples from within China, so I assume what they're doing is illegal in China. In the US, it's legal to sell them as a "research chemical" but the FDA is cracking down on companies that are clearly engaging in b2c. There's this company that offers free testing: https://finnrick.c…
Right, but I don't know the people at those companies. I have local chemists that I trust. I'm just lamenting the fact that developing that kind of trust network everywhere, so everybody can be similarly sure of what they're putting in their body, is likely to run afoul of local laws.
Re: Peptides: where to begin?
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
I imagine it's legally risky to buy a large quantity, test it, and then resell smaller quantities. That's a shame because the alternative is probably that some folks settle for products of dubious quality and end up getting hurt.
Actually, you just described most of the tele-health and compounding pharmacies that carry GLP1s! Where do you think Hims, Ro, Brello, or the rest get the APIs they sell to their customers? They get them from grey market suppliers in China. They don't go to Ely Lilly or NovoNordisk and say, "politely sir, may I skirt around your IP and sell your drugs for 10x what they cost instead of 10,000x what they cost?" Hopeful…
Things have changed a little, but during the time that compounding was explicitly allowed, the licensed pharmacies were buying from FDA approved manufacturers, sometimes in China, and sometimes the same manufacturers who also do contract manufacturing for Lilly.
Today ... who knows? It might just be the same gray market stuff us plebes can get.
Re: Peptides: where to begin?
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are similar risks, and probably more likely, to all sorts of consumables that aren't regulated at all. It is reasonable to ask whether the prescription regime for GLP-1s makes sense. It isn't the only substance posing that conundrum! Ondansetron is OTC in a lot of countries, but not in the US, Canada, or UK. But ondansetron is arguably less dangerous and more helpful than pseudoephedrine.
Pseudoephedrine, of course, isn't BTC because it's dangerous to take or complicated to dose. It's there because of the war on drugs. But I do agree that not all drugs are regulated appropriately. Marijuana also comes to mind. I do think GLP-1s are just about right. It is appropriate to take them under personalized professional guidance.
Right, and I actually see the logic of that (unlike virtually everyone else on HN, and let's not rekindle that debate; the search bar avails). The point is you don't need a prescription to get it. People might be better off if GLP1s were also BTC. Hard to say!
Certainly you can abuse a GLP1 and get yourself very sick, or not abuse it and still end up with pancreatitis. But smoking and alcohol presumably cause way more cases of pancreatitis, and you don't need a script for a handle of Popov.
Re: Peptides: where to begin?
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
I imagine it's legally risky to buy a large quantity, test it, and then resell smaller quantities. That's a shame because the alternative is probably that some folks settle for products of dubious quality and end up getting hurt.
Yes, I believe most people buy directly from somewhat shady Chinese factories. I tried contacting a few and they all refuse to meet or send samples from within China, so I assume what they're doing is illegal in China. In the US, it's legal to sell them as a "research chemical" but the FDA is cracking down on companies that are clearly engaging in b2c. There's this company that offers free testing: https://finnrick.c…
FWIW, finnrick's claim to fame is being free. Someone is paying for it. They have also failed blind tests in the past, Janoshik (IIRC) never has. There are several US-based labs but none of them have the same reputation as Janoshik.
Re: Peptides: where to begin?
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
>I imagine it's legally risky to buy a large quantity, test it, and then resell smaller quantities It is illegal, but it doesn't stop people from doing it. In fact, if you don't have any sort of test results for your peptides people will absolutely avoid buying your wares until you have them. Purity and mg/ml are the 2 basic test results that any shop worth their stuff will have.
To be fair, most everyone I know who is buying on the gray market considers vendor tests to be minimally required, but still insufficient -- there is no assurance they tested the product they shipped to you. Plan on testing it yourself. I'm sure some people do trust nexaph enough, though, to not worry so much. Whether that trust is well placed, that is a separate discussion.
With most of these you can really tell if they work or not and there is a pretty predicable dose dependent reaction profile. With slow meds like semaglutide you'd maybe not notice it in the first week but you will by week 3. I had mine tested but if that wasn't available I probably would have considered the anecdotal evidence to be sufficient. It appears that most of the scamming is just people taking the money and not shipping anything.