What is the actual cost of growth hormone (without big pharma markups, or dealer commissions)?
Answer:
Generic growth hormone brands, which in many western countries are nowadays available only on the black market or through some doctors who personally order them from Asia. Depending on the difficulty of delivery to some countries a fair retail price in USD would be anything between $2.8 to $3.8 per IU of somatropin. This translates to $8.5 to $11.5 per mg.
Depending on the delivery insurance offered by the supplier, the price might be higher to compensate for overall losses the supplier incurs with the failed shipments.
Wholesale price depend on the quantity and difficulty of delivery (may different for each country). Here are a few examples:
- 500 IU (166.5 mg) can cost between $1400 to $1800
- 1000 IU (333 mg) can cost between $2700 to $3400
- 5000 IU (1665 mg) can cost between $12000 to $14000
- 10000 IU (3333 mg) can cost between $18000 to $20000
Western big pharma brands which are only available by prescription from a local doctor come at tenfold price increase. To get away with such prices, generic HGH from Asia first had to be removed from the western markets. In 2007, the USA (followed by most countries where big pharma has a strong presence in politics) classified HGH as "steroid" which made imports from Asia illegal. This effectively gave monopoly to the big pharma.
The total big pharma monopoly of the western markets was short lived though, because Asian suppliers were able to adapt. The prices for Chinese HGH went up slightly to compensate for the re-shipment losses the suppliers incur. For every "black market" HGH lab that gets shut down, several new ones seem to appear.
Beware of the 192 amino acid HGH mimic and low purity growth hormone
If the price is too good to be true, it usually is just that. Underpriced HGH is most likely fake – containing 192 amino acid sequence somatrem, which is not real HGH. Also low quality growth hormone contains a large portion of bacterial residue left over from inadequate manufacturing process. This can lead to serious health problems where the body's immune system can eventually develop defences even against the body’s own, naturally produced growth hormone. See the "real or fake HGH" page for more info on this topic.
In China there are only a handful of labs capable of creating high purity 191 amino acid sequence growth hormone. The reason for this is the high cost of the required equipment (several million USD), which has to be operated by minimum of 8 technically skilled people in an A-grade sterile facility. It is highly unlikely that an "underground lab" would be able to meet the required criteria.