Lab Techniques · Jul 26, 2026
How to Spot a Forged Certificate of Analysis
A certificate of analysis is a PDF, PDFs are trivial to fabricate, and in a market where the certificate is the main trust signal some fraction of them are. The good news is that forgeries are usually lazy. Eleven checks catch most of them.
Run these on any supplier. Run them on us.
1. Does the laboratory exist?
Search the lab name independently — not via the link on the supplier's site. A real analytical lab has its own website, a physical address, a scope of accreditation and a way to contact it. If the only evidence the lab exists is the certificate itself, that is your answer.
2. Does the lot number match your vial?
The certificate should name a specific lot, and that lot should be the one printed on the vial you received. A certificate headed only "BPC-157" with no lot number describes nothing in particular. A certificate for a lot that is not yours describes someone else's material.
3. Does the test date precede the sale?
Material cannot be certified before it exists. A test date falling after your order date means the document belongs to a different lot.
4. Is there a method section?
A real HPLC report states how the measurement was made: column, mobile phase and gradient, flow rate, detection wavelength (214 nm and 280 nm are usual for peptides) and injection volume. A number with no method behind it is an assertion, not a measurement.
5. Is there a chromatogram?
The purity figure is derived from peak areas on a chromatogram. A genuine report shows the trace. Given only a number, you cannot see whether the main peak is clean or sitting on the shoulder of something co-eluting with it.
6. Does the chromatogram agree with the number?
This catches the more effortful forgeries. If the certificate claims 99.5% but the trace shows several substantial secondary peaks, the two disagree. You do not need to be a chromatographer; gross mismatches are visible to anyone.
7. Is identity confirmed, or only purity?
These are separate questions. HPLC tells you how much of the sample is one substance. Mass spectrometry tells you whether that substance is the peptide on the label. A report covering only purity has not established that you received the right compound at all. Look for an observed mass against the theoretical mass.
8. Is one PDF doing duty for several products?
Compare certificates across the catalogue. Identical chromatograms under different compound names, identical timestamps, or shared file metadata means one document has been recycled.
9. Is every result suspiciously identical?
Real analysis scatters — 98.7%, 99.2%, 99.6%. A catalogue where every lot returns exactly 99.9% is publishing a marketing target, not a measurement.
10. Is the precision plausible?
HPLC purity is normally reported to one or two decimal places. A figure like 99.8437% implies precision the instrument does not have.
11. Ask the laboratory
The decisive check. Reputable labs confirm whether they issued a given report, and many publish a verification portal where a report ID can be looked up directly. A supplier who objects to you verifying their certificate has told you what you needed to know.
Applying this to ourselves
It would be inconsistent to publish this and dodge it.
Four lots currently carry an independent certificate:
| Compound | Lot | Purity | Laboratory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retatrutide | KP-RETA-2602 | 99.90% | Krause Analytical |
| BPC-157 | KP-BPC--2612 | 99.60% | BT Labs |
| GHK-Cu | KP-GHK--2609 | 99.90% | Krause Analytical |
| Melanotan II | KP-MELA-2608 | 99.82% | Krause Analytical |
Those are on the lab results page with the lab, method and date named. The rest of the catalogue does not currently carry one, and the product pages say so. Four real certificates with the gap admitted beats seventy-five convenient ones.
Related
Related reading
- Why Two Suppliers Quote Different Purity for the Same Peptide
Synthesis route, deletion sequences, counterion content and the difference between HPLC purity and net peptide content — why 99% from one supplier is not 99% from another.
- Reconstituting Lyophilized Peptides: A Metro Vancouver Lab Guide
Choosing a diluent, keeping the vial sterile, working out the resulting concentration, and storing the solution afterwards — with local notes for Metro Vancouver labs.
- Third-Party vs In-House Peptide Testing: Why It Matters
Why an independent lab number beats a supplier grading its own product, what third-party really means, and how to tell which test a COA is actually showing you.
- What HPLC Purity Percentage Actually Tells You
HPLC purity measures one narrow thing: the target peak's share of total detected area. Here is what that number hides, and why baseline, wavelength, and identity all matter.