Like gas station kratom, research-grade peptides have become widely available for consumers at convenience stores across the United States. Yet as one investigation into peptides sourced from a New York City bodega found, ease of access comes with a high price: your health.
In new reporting on the peptide trade, CBS took a hard look at gray market peptide products available across the US, including a knockoff of Eli Lilly’s yet-to-be-released injectable weight loss drug retatrutide, bought from a corner store in Brooklyn.
To test what’s actually in a bodega vial labeled “retatrutide,” the news outlet sent samples to Jason Galpin, a researcher of bioorganic chemistry at the University of Iowa. His analysis? “It does not look anything like a peptide,” he told CBS.
In place of any sort of peptide-like-substance — which should be made up of short chains of amino acids — Galpin discovered the vial was chock full of phenylacetic acid, a filler-compound typically used in perfume and illicit amphetamine manufacturing.
