Vendor codes are not the names of the trials

Search a research-supply catalog and the incretin aisle is labeled in code. GLP1-SG is used for what sellers present as semaglutide. GLP2-TZ stands in for tirzepatide. GLP3-RT stands in for retatrutide. The codes are tidy. They are also doing a quiet piece of rhetorical work: they sit one inch away from trial acronyms, so a percentage from a New England Journal of Medicine paper looks as if it belongs to the vial.

What the trials used

STEP 1 used once-weekly semaglutide 2.4 mg in a 68-week pharmaceutical trial. SURMOUNT-1 used tirzepatide at 5, 10, or 15 mg for 72 weeks. The retatrutide phase 2 used the sponsor’s triple agonist at protocol doses for 48 weeks. Identity, impurity profile, dose escalation, and cold-chain handling were part of the experiment. None of those papers list a catalog code in the methods.

What a code cannot inherit

A code cannot inherit a mean weight change, an FDA indication, or a safety table. Semaglutide and tirzepatide have labels because finished products went through approval. Retatrutide, at the time of the phase 2 paper, was still investigational. A research vial is a fourth category: a substance sold for laboratory supply, outside both the label and the protocol. This commentary does not link to those vials. The trial links above are the sources. If you want the catalog, you already know how to find a shop. You do not need this journal to walk you there.