NurseKim_ATL said:

They are not contradictory, they measure different things, and this is the single most common misreading of a certificate.

I am more sceptical of certificates as a category than this thread is. The document tells you about a sample somebody chose to send, at a moment in time, and nothing about the vial in your hand. Independent purchase-and-test is a different quality of evidence and everything else is inference.

Dr.RaviCardio said:

Two reports on the same product from two laboratories, four percentage points apart, and no method stated on either.

My HPLC chromatogram analysis for certificates of analysis — I sent my batch to Janoshik and here's what the results showed:

Main peak retention time: 14.6 minutes (consistent with semaglutide reference standard)
Peak purity: 99.3%
Related substances: 0.4% (single impurity at 8.1 minutes — likely a synthesis intermediate)
Mass spec: m/z 4113.58 (matches expected molecular weight)

This is a clean result. The mass spec confirmation is particularly important — it proves the molecule is actually semaglutide and not a substitution.

Dr.ObesityMed said:

I am more sceptical of certificates as a category than this thread is.

HPLC results interpretation for certificates of analysis: when you get your Janoshik report back, here's what the numbers mean:

• Purity %: Should be >97%. Below 95% is concerning.
• Retention time: Should match reference standard for the peptide
• Related substances: Degradation products should be <2% total
• Single impurity: No individual impurity should exceed 1%

My last batch: 99.2% purity, 0.0% total related substances. Clean chromatogram with single sharp peak at expected retention time. Exactly what you want to see.

One thing that is still open after RetaRick_CA’s answer:

Why two laboratories report different purity for the same batch, and which number to believe?

Closing the loop on my own question.

Purity and content being different measurements was the piece I was missing. The vial was overfilled and pure, which is a very different problem from the one I thought I had.