SARMs Store sells research compounds only. Nothing on this page is medical advice or an instruction for human use.
Almost every supplier in this market claims third-party testing. Very few will hand you the document for the batch you are about to buy, and fewer buyers know what to look for when they do. That gap is the single biggest quality problem in the category, and it has been measured. This guide explains what the analytical methods actually do, what the sections of a certificate of analysis mean, how identity, purity and contaminants differ, and which claims about testing are worth nothing.
Why this matters more here than elsewhere
Van Wagoner and colleagues published the definitive study in JAMA in 2017. The team bought 44 products sold online as selective androgen receptor modulators and analysed them by mass spectrometry. Only 52 per cent contained the compound named on the label. Thirty-nine per cent contained a different unapproved drug entirely. Only 41 per cent contained the amount of the labelled compound that the label stated. Around a quarter contained substances that were not declared anywhere on the packaging, and nine per cent contained no active compound at all.
That is not a study about SARMs. It is a study about supply chains. It means roughly half of the money spent in this market at that time bought something other than the advertised product, and it is the reason several published case reports of drug-induced liver injury, including the series by Flores and colleagues in Hepatology Communications in 2020, involved products of unverified origin.
What a certificate of analysis is
A certificate of analysis is a laboratory report on a specific manufactured batch. It is not a certificate for a product line, a brand or a compound in general. A useful certificate names the compound tested, identifies the batch or lot, states the analytical method used, reports the result, is dated, and carries the name of the laboratory that performed the work. Third-party means that laboratory is independent of the manufacturer and the seller.
What HPLC and LC-MS actually measure
High performance liquid chromatography. HPLC pushes a dissolved sample through a packed column under pressure. Different molecules travel through at different speeds, so the sample separates into components that leave the column at characteristic times. A detector records each one as a peak. The retention time identifies a compound by comparison with a known reference standard, and the area under the peak, compared against the total, gives the purity figure. HPLC is excellent at answering “how much of this material is one thing” and it is the standard purity method.
Liquid chromatography mass spectrometry. LC-MS performs the same separation and then feeds each component into a mass spectrometer, which measures its mass-to-charge ratio and, in tandem systems, the masses of its fragments. This produces a molecular fingerprint rather than a retention time, so it can confirm the identity of a compound with far more confidence than HPLC alone and can detect trace substances at very low concentrations. It is the method used in anti-doping laboratories and it was the method used in the JAMA study.
In practice a good documentation package uses both: LC-MS to confirm what the molecule is, HPLC to quantify how pure the material is.
Identity, purity and contaminants are three separate questions
This distinction defeats most buyers, so it is worth stating plainly.
Identity asks whether the molecule present is the one on the label. A product can be 99 per cent pure and still be the wrong compound. The JAMA study found this repeatedly, including products containing unapproved drugs that were never named on the packaging.
Purity asks what proportion of the material is the named compound rather than anything else. It is expressed as a percentage, typically 98 per cent or higher for a serious research supplier, and it is derived from peak area on a chromatogram.
Contaminants are a further question that a simple purity figure does not answer. Purity tells you how much of the material is not the named compound, but not what that remainder is. Heavy metals, residual solvents from synthesis and microbiological contamination each require their own test, and a full documentation package for a manufactured product should include them.
Content per unit is a fourth question again. A capsule can contain a highly pure compound at half the labelled amount. The JAMA finding that only 41 per cent of products contained the stated quantity is about content, not purity.
Reading the document
Start with the batch number and check it against the bottle. If they do not match, the document is not evidence about the product in your hand. Check the date and confirm it postdates manufacture. Check that the laboratory is named and is not the manufacturer. Look for the method, stated as HPLC, LC-MS or both, and a reported purity figure rather than a bare pass or fail. Look at the chromatogram itself if one is included: a clean single dominant peak is what you want to see, and a crowded baseline with multiple unexplained peaks is not.
Then apply the obvious test. If a supplier shows one certificate for every product they sell, or a certificate with no batch number, or an image with the laboratory details cropped out, the document is decoration.
What Dexterz Labs testing covers
Dexterz Labs research compounds are manufactured in the UK and independent batch testing is being commissioned, with certificates published on the product page as each batch is completed. The testing will confirm the identity of the compound and reports a purity figure for that batch, and batch certificates are being published on the product page as testing is completed. Products are supplied at a stated amount per capsule with 90 capsules per bottle, 60 for the stack bundles, and every page carries a research-only notice. That is the standard we ask buyers to hold every supplier to, including us.
Legal status in the UK, 2026
Research compounds in this category are not controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971. Under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 they are unlicensed medicinal products if sold or advertised for human use, which the MHRA enforces, so they are supplied strictly for laboratory research. Testing documentation does not change that status, and no certificate of analysis makes a compound approved, licensed or safe for human consumption. It establishes what is in the bottle, nothing more. In sport, all of these compounds are prohibited at all times under the WADA list, and contaminated supplement cases are a recurring feature of anti-doping decisions.
Frequently asked questions
What does third-party tested mean? That an independent laboratory, not the manufacturer or seller, analysed the material.
Is HPLC or LC-MS better? They answer different questions. LC-MS confirms identity with greater confidence, HPLC quantifies purity. A good package uses both.
What purity should I expect? Serious research suppliers report 98 per cent or higher. Treat an unstated figure as no figure.
Does a high purity number mean the product is the right compound? No. Purity and identity are separate. A pure sample of the wrong molecule still reports high purity.
Why does the batch number matter? Because a certificate only describes the batch it was produced for. Without a matching number it is evidence about somebody else’s material.
Does testing make a compound safe? No. It establishes contents. Safety is a separate question and none of these compounds is approved for human use anywhere.
Related reading
- Are SARMs safe? What the evidence says about side effects
- SARMs capsules vs liquid: stability, dosing accuracy and testing
- Researching SARMs for the first time: what to read before buying
- Are SARMs legal in the UK? 2026 update
Research product line: Batch-tested SARMs research range
Sources
- Van Wagoner RM et al., JAMA 2017;318:2004-2010. PubMed 29183075
- Flores JE et al., Hepatol Commun 2020;4:450-452. PubMed 32140660
- Barbara M et al., ACG Case Rep J 2020;7:e00409. PubMed 33062783
- FDA public safety notification, October 2017.
- Human Medicines Regulations 2012.
- WADA Prohibited List 2026.