Product Overview
Semaglutide imitates the incretin hormone GLP-1 and is the ingredient behind the well-known weekly pens. Generic Peptides supplies it as three freeze-dried vials holding 2 mg, 5 mg and 10 mg, and none of the three carries an approved dose. Nothing in the box is a pen, so every amount has to be worked out from a syringe and a chosen concentration.
The mechanism is worth knowing before the numbers. Stimulating the GLP-1 receptor slows the movement of food out of the stomach and changes the hunger signals arriving in the brain, which is why the first thing users notice is not energy or body shape but appetite. The pharmacokinetics are unusually friendly to a weekly rhythm: the half-life is around one week, and the substance is still measurable in blood for weeks after the final dose.
Two regulatory details belong on the first screen. The class is absent from the WADA banned list yet appears on the monitoring programme, so a tested athlete is not looking at a sanction. And the approved pen carries a serious warning about thyroid C-cell tumours drawn from rodent data, with medullary thyroid carcinoma or MEN-2 in the family history listed as a reason not to use it. A research vial inherits the biology but none of the oversight attached to that warning.
Dosage Protocol
The ladder below is the approved titration from the prescription product, quoted so the numbers in the literature make sense. It is not a schedule for a lyophilised vial, and no separate female dose is confirmed.
| Level | Amount | Length | Note |
| Beginner step | 0.25 mg weekly | 4 weeks at the step | An adaptation step; appetite settles, weight usually does not move yet |
| Intermediate | 0.5-1 mg weekly | 4-week steps | Raised only as tolerated, which is where most complaints appear |
| Advanced | 1.7-2.4 mg weekly | Up to 68 weeks in STEP-1 | The trial used 2.4 mg weekly for 68 weeks alongside diet and activity work |
| Female | Not separately confirmed | - | STEP-1 enrolled adults of both sexes without diabetes |
| Route | Subcutaneous | Weekly | Same time each week, with the injection site rotated |
Vial arithmetic does the rest. One millilitre added to the 2 mg vial yields 2 mg per millilitre, which makes a 0.5 mg week a quarter of a millilitre, or 25 units on a U-100 scale. For the 5 mg vial, two millilitres produce 2.5 mg per millilitre and 0.5 mg measures 0.2 ml, or 20 units. Once mixed, the 10 mg vial is equivalent to two of the 5 mg.
Suggested Protocols
Weight-loss research rarely uses one compound alone, but combinations here are catalogue arrangements rather than tested stacks. The one hard result worth carrying is from STEP-1: 1961 adults without diabetes, 2.4 mg weekly, 68 weeks, with diet and activity support.
Metabolic shelf neighbours include Adipotide for the vascular-targeting approach, Tesamorelin where visceral fat is the outcome of interest, Somatropin for growth-hormone-driven recomp, and NAD+ for the cellular-energy angle.
What to Expect
- Appetite first. Reduced hunger arrives in the opening weeks, well before any change on a scale.
- Weight moves on the higher steps. Visible loss shows up from 0.5 mg upwards, and the STEP-1 result was measured across 68 weeks.
- Gastrointestinal complaints dominate. Nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, constipation and abdominal pain are dose-linked and peak on the weeks when the amount goes up.
- Digestion slows. Belching and indigestion come from delayed gastric emptying, and rare gastroparesis is reported. Gallbladder disease risk also rises with rapid weight loss.
- Resting pulse creeps up. A rise of about three beats per minute is described as a class effect worth tracking.
- Stopping brings weight back. Roughly two thirds of the weight lost returns within the following year, so the compound manages appetite rather than resolving anything.
- Thyroid history matters. The boxed warning covers medullary thyroid carcinoma, and a family or personal history is a contraindication.
Side Effects and Management
Almost everything reported here is gastrointestinal and dose-related, which makes the pace of escalation the main tool for managing it.
Post-Cycle Therapy and What Follows Instead
No hormonal axis is suppressed here, so a SERM has nothing to restart and no PCT is described anywhere in the sources. What follows the last injection is a different problem: appetite returns and weight comes back.
Handling is the same as for any peptide: keep the powder cold and dark, refrigerate the mixed solution, and avoid shaking or freezing. Because a 10 mg vial at 2.5 mg per millilitre covers many weekly amounts, the practical question is not supply but how long a mixed solution can be trusted, and the sources give no shelf figure for this particular vial.
