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Is SGN worth the price difference against Shanghai ERP Biotechnology on measured results?

Asked 1 Jan 2025Modified 16 months agoViewed 33k times
36

Conditions: SGN · Shanghai ERP Biotechnology.

I have used one of these for a while and I am considering switching, which requires a reason.

What I care about is reproducibility, because a result I cannot repeat is not useful to me.

What does each option buy me, and what does it cost me?

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askedsyringe_ninety12k171 Jan 2025

5 Answers

Accepted answer first, then by votes
115

Accepted answer

Answer first: comparing suppliers is only meaningful if the comparison holds the laboratory, the method and the compound constant, and most published comparisons hold none of them.

To compare properly: order the same compound at the same nominal strength from each supplier, submit all samples to the same laboratory in the same submission if possible, and ask for the same test set on each.

Cost per milligram of actual peptide is the honest price comparison, which means dividing by measured content rather than by label claim.

Content assay results across the published datasets vary considerably more between suppliers than purity does, which makes content the more discriminating axis.

The caveat is that a comparison is a snapshot of the lots compared, and lots change.

One laboratory, one method, one submission. Otherwise it is not a comparison.

edited 26 Feb 2025 by t_oyelaran — clarified the distinction between purity and content

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answered · acceptedt_oyelaran79k4823 Feb 2025
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36

The relevant point is that two competent laboratories disagree by half a per cent on identical material, which is larger than most of the differences people argue about.

Sample size matters. One order each is an anecdote about six vials; three orders each over a year is the beginning of a comparison.

Lead time and lane behaviour are supplier properties too and are easier to compare than analytical ones, because they need no laboratory at all.

No supplier on this site pays for its position, and the storefront links are marked nofollow and sponsored.

Name the laboratory and the dates or the comparison cannot be reproduced.

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answeredtobias_maartens171k35817 Mar 2025
I have kept every invoice and declaration, which I gather is the useful habit. – kirsi_lahtinen 8 months ago
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The short version: same compound, same laboratory, same method, ideally same week — otherwise you are comparing laboratories rather than suppliers.

Compare documentation on a fixed checklist rather than by impression: lot specificity, method section, chromatogram availability, quantified content, water and counter-ion figures, and whether the code is on the vial.

Publish the method with the result. A comparison without the laboratory named and the submission dates given is not reproducible by anyone.

Gradient slope, column chemistry and detection wavelength all affect the reported purity figure, which is why the method section is the part that makes results comparable.

Comparisons drawn from different laboratories at different times are weaker evidence than most people treat them as.

Compare content, not purity. Purity clusters and content does not.

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answeredt_oyelaran79k486 Mar 2025
21

Answering this needs the axis. A supplier that is best on paperwork and a supplier that is best on price are both correct answers to different questions.

Content is the more discriminating measurement than purity for supplier comparison, because purity clusters tightly among competent suppliers and content does not.

Use a fixed documentation checklist rather than an impression.

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answeredn_takahashi29k389 Apr 2025
7Thank you — the checklist format makes this actionable rather than merely correct. – tyndall_haze 10 days ago
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-3

Ratings on this site are ours alone and are deliberately not reconciled with anyone else's.

Submitting to different laboratories introduces a method difference that commonly exceeds the supplier difference. Gradient slope alone can move a reported purity figure by a per cent in either direction.

Inter-laboratory spread on identical peptide material is routinely half a per cent to a per cent by RP-HPLC, which is the noise floor for any cross-laboratory comparison.

Price per milligram of measured peptide, not per milligram of label claim.

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answeredt_oyelaran79k4812 Feb 2025
4Does the same reasoning hold for a group order, where one lot covers everybody? – yuki_morishita 3 months ago
5Small correction: carriage amortises across the order, which changes small-order economics entirely. – Dr_Elias_Weiss 4 months ago
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