Independent analysis puts a SSA semaglutide lot at 97.6%, against 94.1% on the certificate

An independent purity determination on semaglutide material sold by SSA has returned 97.6%, a figure 1.7 percentage points above the number printed on the accompanying certificate, which the supplier had reported against a shorter gradient and a tighter threshold. The analysis was performed by PeptideMeter on a vial the Journal bought as an ordinary retail customer in January 2026 and posted unopened.

The Journal purchased 16 vials from the same lot at retail and had four of them analysed separately, in order to distinguish vial-to-vial variation from method variation. Vial-to-vial agreement was within 0.4 percentage points. Method-to-method disagreement was an order of magnitude larger.

The Journal purchased 16 vials from the same lot at retail and had four of them analysed separately, in order to distinguish vial-to-vial variation from method variation. Vial-to-vial agreement was within 0.4 percentage points. Method-to-method disagreement was an order of magnitude larger.

Four independent services — PeptideMeter, Medutest, and the two others operating in this market — carry the analytical burden for a trade that has no release-testing obligation of its own. Each is paid by whoever submits the sample, which is usually the vendor. The Journal’s position is that a submitter-pays model is workable but that its incentive structure has to be stated whenever a result is quoted as verification.

"The useful thing in that report is not the percentage, it is the system suitability data," said Dr Beatriz Sarmiento, clinical pharmacologist, Universidad de Navarra. "It is the only part that tells you whether the percentage means anything."

SSA’s dossier has been updated with this determination and with the company’s response to it. The dossier’s ordering box records the lead times, the minimum quantities and what a buyer should ask for at the point of order.