How to source: Brand, Compounded, RUO, Gray Market.

The compound is FDA-approved for at least one indication. You get it via a normal prescription, fill at a regular pharmacy. Pros: highest oversight, brand-name purity, insurance may cover. Cons: most expensive ($1,000 to $1,500/month for the GLP-1 brands, etc.), only available for the small set of FDA-approved peptides — semaglutide as Ozempic / Wegovy / Rybelsus, tirzepatide as Mounjaro / Zepbound, liraglutide as Saxenda / Victoza, bremelanotide as Vyleesi, somatropin (rhGH) as Genotropin / Humatrope / Norditropin / Saizen / Omnitrope / Zomacton, afamelanotide as Scenesse (EPP only), epoetin alfa as Procrit / Epogen, darbepoetin as Aranesp, tesamorelin as Egrifta (HIV-associated lipodystrophy), aviptadil as Zyesami (limited authorization), and elamipretide as Forzinity (Barth syndrome, approved Apr 2026). Everything else in this catalogue is RUO or compounded.

A 503A compounding pharmacy makes the same molecule on a per-prescription basis. Pros: pharmacy-grade purity, real prescription, state pharmacy-board oversight, ~85 to 90% cheaper than brand. Cons: legal status depends on the FDA shortage list (semaglutide compounding lost its safe-harbor in 2024), individual pharmacies vary in quality, you need a prescriber. Usually accessed through telehealth platforms that connect you to a 503A.

Sold legally as "research chemicals" by US-based vendors. "Not for human use" stamped on the vial. Pros: cheapest among the legitimate channels ($25 to $80/month is typical), no prescription needed, the only legal way to access most non-FDA peptides (BPC-157, TB-500, GHK-Cu, etc.). Cons: zero oversight on the user side, vendor quality varies wildly, you are buying it for "research" and using it on yourself anyway. Demand a third-party COA every time. The COA is only as honest as the vendor.

The part nobody publishes plainly. The gray market is the wholesale tier where end-users (and the US RUO vendors themselves) source peptides directly from the API manufacturers, mostly in China and India, who make the molecule in the first place. Discovery happens in Discord servers and Telegram groups. That's the entire access layer. Prices land 5 to 10× cheaper than US RUO because you're cutting out the vialing/labeling/warehousing markup. Pros: lowest cost by far, often the same molecule from the same factory that supplies legitimate pharma compounding. Cons: highest risk. Customs seizures, 2 to 6 week shipping, payment in crypto only, no recourse if the vial is fake or short-fill, no real COA, legality of personal import is murky to actively prohibited depending on jurisdiction.

A real example: brand Ozempic = $1,400/mo. Compounded semaglutide from a 503A = $189/mo. US RUO semaglutide = $35/mo. Gray-market raws = ~$5 to $8/mo equivalent. Same molecule. Different oversight. Different risk.

most US RUO vendors aren't manufacturers. They're resellers buying the same overseas raws, vialing them in a US warehouse, slapping a COA on the box (sometimes real, sometimes recycled), and shipping with a 5 to 10× markup. The gray market is just the layer where you buy the same product without the middleman, and accept the longer shipping + higher seizure risk + no recourse.

That's the only honest framework. We catalog what people use; we don't endorse the choice and we don't name names.