In EU, certain chemical suppliers exist who supply tipepidine for research purposes. However, pharmacies cannot legally compound research-graded drugs. Also, research-graded means the drug may contain toxic impurities or bacterial contamination.
Pharmacies need to import GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) grade tipepidine. MedicaPharma can supply this. MedicaPharma is located in the Netherlands and offers worldwide shipping. Some international options exist (PharmaCompass, Yungjin Pharm, Taiwantrade, Pharmaffiliates) but import requires national approval.
I asked MedicaPharma (located in the Netherlands) a quote for 42g tipepidine which allows use of 120mg a day for one year. I also asked a quote to a Taiwan provider from PharmaCompass but without success.
MedicaPharma answered me that 50g tipepidine would cost €5870. If using 120mg a day, this would equal €425/month. As bulk orders cost less, buying 1kg at once would cost €137/month. Negotiation is also always possible to lower price. However, I cannot buy such huge bulk orders right now either way.
In the UK, at Cambridge Bioscience, I found 25g of tipepidine at €182. This is a great price, better than Asverin in Japan. For 120mg a day, it would cost €26 a month. The molecules are probably research-graded but they say it is good quality. However, Cambridge Bioscience only delivers in the UK. Their supplier is FUJIFILM Wako Chemicals. I contacted them for tipepidine in Belgium, and I also sent a mail to their Belgian distributor sopachem. I guess I will need to wait for a response. If it fails, I guess I can always contact other EU distributor. I contacted one in the Netherlands, named Bio-Connect, for 25g of FUJIFILM Wako Chemicals; if they ask high price I can always show them the price of Cambridge Bioscience. I also emailed instruchemie.
Instruchemie distributor
Instruchemie asks me if I buy for a company.
ChatGPT says: I need to buy via a scientific research company for legal reasons. It says I can create a Sole Proprietorship in Belgium easily to resolve this issue. Later you can convert to a Private Limited Company for protection from personal liability and to scale the company's personnel.
I answered Instruchemie that I was ready to create a company in Belgium for the purchase but would like to know beforehand if they could supply the Tipepidine at a reasonable price. I used my past research to show that I am a legitimate researcher. Email:```
Dear Hans I. van Dijken,
I am a scientific consultant and independent researcher, affiliated with Tsinghua University through my published work (for example: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.26599/BSA.2024.905006). I am currently continuing this line of research and wish to obtain tipepidine for experimental purposes.
At present, I operate as an independent researcher. If required for compliance or regulatory reasons, I am prepared to formalize this further by registering a company in Belgium to complete the purchase through a standard commercial account. Before taking that step, I would like to confirm whether your company is able to supply tipepidine for legitimate scientific research, and if so, under what pricing and ordering conditions?
Thank you very much for your consideration. I look forward to your response.
Best regards,
Arthur Tainmont
Consultant & Independent Researcher
They answered fast without rejecting me, saying that they already contacted the supplier FujiFilm to inform me shortly.
Sopachem distributor
Sopachem would be ideal as it is a Belgian supplier of FujiFilm.
As previously said, I contacted both FUJIFILM Wako Chemicals and Sopachem. Sopachem wasn't answering me, even if they in the end did after a week. FUJIFILM Wako Chemicals answered fast and referred me to their Belgian distributor Sopachem, but when I told them Sopachem was not answering they contacted Sopachem on my behalf and I received a fast answer from someone at Sopachem.
Bart Vleugens, with this email address (bart.vleugels@sopachem.com), answered me on behalf of Sopachem. He says the Tipepidine I want from FujiFilm is available for purchase and shipping via Sopachem. The purchase price is €92 (VAT exclusive). They have a fixed fee for FujiFilm orders of €39 EUR (VAT exclusive) and maintain a small order fee of €35 for orders below €300 (VAT exclusive). This means 25g tipepidine would end up at €166 (VAT exclusive). This is a great price and equals €24/month for 120mg tipepidine a day.
In the end, they ask me my institution for shipping and invoicing. As indicated earlier, chatGPT says again that I should setup a sole proprietorship in Belgium to have an institution and then be able to buy it. Once I have the enterprise number and VAT, I can simply provide: “Institute: [Your Name Research Consultancy], [Address], VAT [number]”.
Quickly afterwards, they already contacted FujiFilm, and informed me that the estimated delivery time will be 5-6 weeks as it has to come from Japan. This is understandable and not a problem if I buy in bulk either way.
Learn more about research vs GMP grade
Research-grade tipepidine is only meant for non-clinical, non-human applications. Permitted scenarios are: usage in cell cultures; usage in pre-clinical animal studies; usage for pharmacological exploration. It is not allowed for human consumption or clinical trials. GMP certification is necessary for human consumption or clinical trials.
Human research is tightly regulated to protect subjects and ensure data validity. Using research-grade active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in humans is forbidden because: they may contain contaminants, residual solvents, by-products, or even misidentified compounds; two batches may vary in purity, stability, or potency, which is unacceptable for dosing in humans; research chemicals lack validated shelf-life and storage conditions while a degraded compound could form toxic byproducts.
Research-grade material is acceptable for in-vitro studies and exploratory animal work. If promising, the compound is “tech-transferred” to a GMP manufacturer. A specialized contract manufacturing organization (CMO) produces the same molecule but under GMP conditions. To test in humans, investigators file a dossier. This includes proof that the API is GMP-grade, plus preclinical safety and pharmacology data. Once regulators and ethics committees approve, the GMP API is used to make clinical trial formulations (capsules, syrups, injectables) in a licensed facility. Every dose given to a human must come from that controlled, documented GMP batch.
Conclusions
Once I have a company I can order via the distributor: Sopachem.
But first, I can ask them information about the product's quality. I can ask them for a recent Certificate of Analysis (CoA), if they have stability data and recommended shelf life? I can also ask if they have a GMP certificate?
Company
I need to buy research chemicals via a scientific research company for legal reasons. ChatGPT says I can easily create a Sole Proprietorship in Belgium to resolve this issue. Later I can convert it to a Private Limited Company for protection from personal liability and to scale the company's personnel if necessary.
If I create this company, it could be of use for biomedical research, consultations, and the selling of biomedical material.