I did pricing comparison this last year - Rapamycin etc., Purchase Price Comparison Spreadsheet, and Issues Discussion
Have you tried these Sembolic 14 mg tablets yet? How do the tablets taste to you? The ones I received have a really weird after taste. Iām wondering if this is an āearly batchā issue, or something common to all the semaglutide tabletsā¦
Yes Iām on 14mg of Sembolic twice a week. Hit me like a truck, took until last week (about 5 weeks in) for the nausea to die down. I canāt say Iāve noticed too much about the taste as I swallow it straight away. However I have one 14mg Rybelsus tablet left that I was saving to do some comparison anyway so give me a week to ātasteā both and Iāll let you know my conclusions.
While weāre on the topic I see two new oral brands have launched in India. āSemalixā which appears to also come from Torrent Pharmaceuticals (Iām not sure why they need two brands) and āObedaā from Dr. Reddyās Laboratories. Hopefully the competition will help to deflate the prices further. Iāll try to pick up some of both of them in my next batch in the name of scienceā¦
Interesting⦠results are so different between people. I have zero nausea (or any noticeable side effects, really) at 14mg Semobolic. But weight loss is going well and feeling good.
Do you take this daily?
Yes - every morning when I first wake up. Iāve been on it for about 3 weeks. Iāve lost about 13lbs. I train daily to make sure Iām not losing muscle. Once I get down to zero visceral fat, Iāll probably pause it.
Is it (you think) the weight loss result of less appetite/food, or is it a result of exercising though I assume you must have been exercising even before starting it? Great results but 13lbs in 3 weeks sounds a lot especially if you are not way overweight which I think youād mentioned somewhere that you werenāt.
Reason I ask is because I had lost about 30lbs about a year ago on Tirze/Reta (had another 10-15lbs to go and then became very sick from them) but gained back about 15, and Iāve tried exercise less food etc. to no avail, so Iām stuck with about 30lbs surplus that Iād love to get rid of. Canāt take injectables as they literally cripple me almost bedridden more so now that even at beginning when I started them. So, my body is not being used to GLP1ās (in injectable form at least, havenāt tried tablets yet).
Also, does it affect your ability to exercise as in loosing motivation, less energy etc�
Plus was yours from Torrent? Thanks for any info you can provide.
I can chime in for myself on this. I donāt notice any lack of motivation to do other things. However food and alcohol seem much more boring and unrewarding. Itās strange because rather than eating ā not getting as big a mental reward as before ā therefore gradually eating less, the actual pattern seems to be just somehow āknowingā that the food will not be rewarding before eating it and not even wasting any time thinking about it. I was also getting quite bad nausea until recently even with just two 14mg tablets a week. I canāt see myself taking one every day.
I do notice less energy but thatās always been the case when Iāve cut before and isnāt because of the semaglutide itself.
One further point, Iām actually more reluctant to eat high volume fiber heavy food now. Iāve significantly reduced the amount of vegetables I eat and favour more easy to digest processed food.
I just received both my packages for my order ā¦success!
Thatās an interesting observation since I felt the opposite from injectables. I actually would crave carbs and not care for protein or fats.
Ok so Iāve tested licking both Rybelsus and Sembolic and I can say for sure that while they both have an unpleasant burning taste on the tongue, itās dramatically stronger with Sembolic to the point of taking 10 minutes or so to dissipate. So obviously the implementations are slightly different. Whether this has any consequences beyond this I do not know.
I got this response from Claude on the strange taste of the Sembolic pills, it sounds like a manufacturing issue (they just started making these tablets, so not a huge surprise):
Most Likely Causes
1. Residual Solvents from Solid-Phase Peptide Synthesis (SPPS) ā Most Probable
Novo Nordisk manufactures the semaglutide API using recombinant biosynthesis. Generic manufacturers, including Torrent, almost certainly use Fmoc-based solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS), a fundamentally different process that requires multiple harsh organic solvents:
- TFA (trifluoroacetic acid) ā used in the final cleavage/deprotection step. Has an extremely distinctive, persistent acidic-chemical taste and aftertaste. Even trace quantities above ICH limits (Class 3, ā¤50 mg/day) are detectable on the palate and linger. This is arguably the single most likely culprit.
- Piperidine ā used for Fmoc deprotection. Strong, distinctive chemical/aminic taste.
- DMF (dimethylformamide), DCM (dichloromethane), acetonitrile ā all SPPS workhorses with characteristic chemical flavors.
A brand-new peptide synthesis line in its first commercial run is precisely the context where residual solvent profiles havenāt been fully optimized and validated. Early batches frequently deviate.
2. SNAC (Salcaprozate Sodium) Quality or Sourcing Issue
SNAC is present in enormous quantities relative to the API ā the ratio in the Rybelsus formulation is roughly 100:1 by weight (300 mg SNAC to 3 mg semaglutide). Historical data from early heparin oral formulations using SNAC documented bitter taste and poor compliance as a known problem, which is why taste masking via tablet coating is critical.
If Torrent is using a different SNAC supplier, a different purity grade, or the tablet coating is inconsistent (thin, incomplete, or micro-cracked), the inherent bitterness of SNAC will dominate the taste profile ā producing exactly a āchemicalā lingering aftertaste.
3. Synthesis Impurities and Coupling Reagent Residues
SPPS uses coupling reagents (HATU, HBTU, DIC) and generates byproducts including:
- Truncated/deletion peptide sequences
- Racemized amino acid residues
- Residual HOBt (hydroxybenzotriazole) or related activators
These can contribute unfamiliar taste profiles not present in the biosynthetically-derived API.
4. Tablet Coating Defect (Batch-Specific)
A compromised coating allows direct oral mucosal contact with the drug/excipient core before swallowing ā releasing both SNAC and any API impurities to taste receptors simultaneously. This would explain why the taste is prominent and lingering.
Implications
Safety: The most serious concern is ICH Class 1 or 2 residual solvents exceeding guideline limits. DCM and DMF (Class 2) have defined daily exposure limits (6 mg/day and 8.8 mg/day respectively). TFA is Class 3 but still has a 50 mg/day limit. Exceeding these in early production batches is possible and potentially hepatotoxic or nephrotoxic with repeated exposure.
Efficacy: If taste aberration reflects API degradation rather than solvent residue, oxidized or hydrolyzed semaglutide has reduced GLP-1 receptor affinity. Therapeutic effect would be compromised ā youād see attenuated glycemic control or weight loss response.
Where did you buy the Retatrutide pills? I think Iāll toss the Semoblics and try another vendor. I really donāt like the taste and think it may not be healthy, if its left-over reagentsā¦
Sorry I meant to say Rybelsus! I will correct my post.
If youāre gonna order some Rybelsus tablets maybe try to get at least 1 strip each of the other two brands that have just come on the market āSemalixā and āObedaā. Itās possible they donāt have the issue.
I think Iāll try the Rybelsus. 37$ / 10 tablets for the 14mg tablets.
First time ordering through Maulik and probably also the last : I paid for 400 mg of Rapacan and only received 300⦠What a waste of time. ![]()
I just had my first issue with Jagdish. I ordered Enclomiphene, and was surprised to see that he sent Clomiphene with a fraudulent label on it. He also refused to refund me. Has anyone found a seller of actual Enclomiphene?
Did you contact him about it?
Also if they came in boxes open all of the boxes, he might have put extra strips in each box to save space.
All āenclomipheneā products from India are like this. It is deceptive. Not necessarily the vendors fault but it is dodgy.
Short answer: From India, no.
Donāt waste your time looking for it from India.
