Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus contain semaglutide base, not a salt. Mounjaro and Zepbound contain tirzepatide base, not a salt. A salt form (acetate, sodium, or any other counter-ion listed on a COA) is a different active ingredient than the component of those approved drugs.
That is an identity statement. It is the statement FDA has made about semaglutide salts in compounding, and it is the statement the Ohio Board of Pharmacy printed for both semaglutide and tirzepatide. It is not a protocol, not a ranking of products, and not a suggestion that a research reagent is a substitute for any of those drugs.
A research catalog can still sell a peptide salt as a chemical. The COA should say which form is in the vial. The error is treating “semaglutide” as a single substance no matter what the counter-ion is.
What FDA said about semaglutide salts
FDA’s public page on unapproved GLP-1 drugs includes a section titled “Salt forms should not be used to compound semaglutide.” The agency states that some compounded semaglutide products may be the salt forms, including semaglutide sodium and semaglutide acetate. Those salt forms are different active ingredients than are used in the approved drugs. FDA says it does not have information on whether those salts have the same chemical and pharmacologic properties as the active ingredient in the approved drug, and that it is not aware of any lawful basis for their use in compounding.
Read that as chemistry plus compounding law, not as a lab SOP. The chemical point is simple: salt and base are not automatically interchangeable because the peptide sequence is related. Counter-ions change the formula, the mass, and sometimes the assay method. If you are identifying a research lot, the COA’s exact name matters more than the trade nickname on a forum thread.
What Ohio added for tirzepatide
Ohio’s 17 July 2025 GLP-1 compounding document states the pair in one block:
Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus contain semaglutide base, not a salt form.
Mounjaro and Zepbound contain tirzepatide base, not a salt form.
Therefore only the base is a component of an FDA-approved human drug product.
The salt forms are different active ingredients and do not meet FD&C Act requirements for compounding, as that Board describes them.
That last bullet is compounding law in Ohio’s telling. The first three bullets are the identity facts a research page can reuse without pretending to be a pharmacy manual. If a COA says “tirzepatide acetate” or “semaglutide sodium,” it is not describing the same listed component as those five approved products.
Why a research COA still has to name the form
Mass spectrometry and HPLC do not make the salt-versus-base question go away. A calculated monoisotopic mass for the free peptide is not the mass of a salt. Net peptide content versus total powder mass can move if a counter-ion and water are in the cake. If the header says one name and the mass matches another, you do not have a match. That is ordinary analytical hygiene. See how to read a peptide COA.
Worked example:
Label on a document
What it is not
Semaglutide base (as in the approved products named above)
Do not use it as a compounding recipe. Do not use it as a claim that a research lot “is” or “is not” equivalent to a named drug product. Research reagents are not those products. Approved drug products have their own labels, manufacturers, and indications. A research peptide is a chemical for the bench.
Do not flatten retatrutide into this table. Retatrutide is not an FDA-approved drug product. Salt-versus-base here is about the approved semaglutide and tirzepatide products that FDA and Ohio were actually discussing.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. FDA’s Concerns with Unapproved GLP-1 Drugs Used for Weight Loss. Section: “Salt forms should not be used to compound semaglutide.” https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-alerts-and-statements/fdas-concerns-unapproved-glp-1-drugs-used-weight-loss
Ohio Board of Pharmacy. Compounding of Glucagon-like Peptide-1 Drug Products (GLP-1) in Ohio. 17 July 2025. “Use of salt forms prohibited.”
Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, 21 U.S.C. § 353a (pharmacy compounding conditions for bulk substances).
For laboratory research only. Not for human or veterinary use. This article is not legal advice and not medical advice.
Incretin Salt Forms Are Not the Approved-Drug Base
Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus contain semaglutide base, not a salt. Mounjaro and Zepbound contain tirzepatide base, not a salt. A salt form (acetate, sodium, or any other counter-ion listed on a COA) is a different active ingredient than the component of those approved drugs.
That is an identity statement. It is the statement FDA has made about semaglutide salts in compounding, and it is the statement the Ohio Board of Pharmacy printed for both semaglutide and tirzepatide. It is not a protocol, not a ranking of products, and not a suggestion that a research reagent is a substitute for any of those drugs.
A research catalog can still sell a peptide salt as a chemical. The COA should say which form is in the vial. The error is treating “semaglutide” as a single substance no matter what the counter-ion is.
What FDA said about semaglutide salts
FDA’s public page on unapproved GLP-1 drugs includes a section titled “Salt forms should not be used to compound semaglutide.” The agency states that some compounded semaglutide products may be the salt forms, including semaglutide sodium and semaglutide acetate. Those salt forms are different active ingredients than are used in the approved drugs. FDA says it does not have information on whether those salts have the same chemical and pharmacologic properties as the active ingredient in the approved drug, and that it is not aware of any lawful basis for their use in compounding.
Read that as chemistry plus compounding law, not as a lab SOP. The chemical point is simple: salt and base are not automatically interchangeable because the peptide sequence is related. Counter-ions change the formula, the mass, and sometimes the assay method. If you are identifying a research lot, the COA’s exact name matters more than the trade nickname on a forum thread.
What Ohio added for tirzepatide
Ohio’s 17 July 2025 GLP-1 compounding document states the pair in one block:
That last bullet is compounding law in Ohio’s telling. The first three bullets are the identity facts a research page can reuse without pretending to be a pharmacy manual. If a COA says “tirzepatide acetate” or “semaglutide sodium,” it is not describing the same listed component as those five approved products.
Why a research COA still has to name the form
Mass spectrometry and HPLC do not make the salt-versus-base question go away. A calculated monoisotopic mass for the free peptide is not the mass of a salt. Net peptide content versus total powder mass can move if a counter-ion and water are in the cake. If the header says one name and the mass matches another, you do not have a match. That is ordinary analytical hygiene. See how to read a peptide COA.
Worked example:
What not to do with this page
Do not use it as a compounding recipe. Do not use it as a claim that a research lot “is” or “is not” equivalent to a named drug product. Research reagents are not those products. Approved drug products have their own labels, manufacturers, and indications. A research peptide is a chemical for the bench.
Do not flatten retatrutide into this table. Retatrutide is not an FDA-approved drug product. Salt-versus-base here is about the approved semaglutide and tirzepatide products that FDA and Ohio were actually discussing.
Related reading: A research reagent is not 503A API · Semaglutide research overview · Tirzepatide research overview · Peptide incretin vs non-peptide oral GLP-1
References
For laboratory research only. Not for human or veterinary use. This article is not legal advice and not medical advice.
Last reviewed: 2026-10-14