A website tells you what a supplier wants to be true. A direct question tells you what they can actually produce on request, and how fast. Send this list to us and to everyone else you are considering, then compare the answers rather than the websites.
The nine
1. Can I see the COA for the specific batch I would receive? Not a sample document, not last quarter's. The batch code on the certificate has to match the vial in your hand. 2. What method produced the purity figure? A percentage with no method beside it is a number someone typed. You want HPLC named, and ideally the chromatogram attached. 3. What is in the remainder? Residual solvent, truncated sequences and counter-ion content are all "impurity", and they are not equally benign. 4. Was identity confirmed, and how? Purity says the vial is mostly one thing. Identity says that thing is what you ordered. Mass spec, with observed weight next to theoretical. 5. What is the endotoxin result? Rarely printed, always relevant for anything injectable. Expressed in EU/mg. "Not required" is true and beside the point. 6. What happens to a batch that fails? The answer you want is destroyed, with the disposition recorded. The answer you do not want is a pause before the answer. 7. Where is the cold chain logged, and for how long? Cold-chain shipping is a claim until someone can show you the record. 8. Who synthesises it, and where? A supplier who cannot answer this is a reseller who does not know either. 9. What is your policy when a customer disputes a result? Ask before you need it, not after.How to read the answers
Speed matters as much as content. A supplier who has these documents to hand sends them in minutes; one who has to go and make them takes days and sends something generic.
Ask us the same nine. If any of our answers are worse than someone else's, that is genuinely useful for you to know.
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