GLP-1 / GIP / Glucagon is an investigational triple-receptor incretin peptide. This page sets out what is publicly established about it: what the triple-receptor design means, where its regulatory status sits in Canada, and why the analytical questions for a long peptide differ from those for a short one. ExoLabz is a Canadian supplier of triple-receptor incretin research peptides, dispatched from within Canada as lyophilised powder for laboratory research; the catalogue is linked below.

Supplied for laboratory research use only. Not approved for human consumption, clinical or veterinary use, and holding no Canadian market authorisation for human use.

Is retatrutide available in Canada?

As a research material, yes: it is supplied domestically for laboratory work, and a Canadian order crosses no border. As an authorised medicine, no. Retatrutide is not authorised by Health Canada for human or veterinary use. It holds no Drug Identification Number, no Natural Product Number, and has not been reviewed by any regulator for safety or efficacy in people. It remains an investigational molecule.

That distinction is the whole answer to the question. Research-grade material is not a version of any authorised product: it is a different manufacture, not made to pharmaceutical GMP standards, with no sterility or endotoxin assurance and no regulated label. Our note on the regulatory status of research peptides in Canada sets out the framework in full.

Buying research-grade material creates no authority to administer it to any person or animal. Human research on an unauthorised drug in Canada requires a Clinical Trial Application authorised by Health Canada together with Research Ethics Board approval, and those approvals attach to a protocol and an investigator rather than to the material.

What this compound is

GLP-1 / GIP / Glucagon is a synthetic unimolecular peptide engineered to activate three class B1 G-protein-coupled receptors: the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R), the glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptor (GIPR), and the glucagon receptor (GCGR).

All three receptors couple primarily to Gαs, so activation raises intracellular cAMP and engages protein kinase A signalling. Because the three native ligands share substantial sequence homology at the N-terminus, a single engineered sequence can retain enough recognition elements to activate all three.

Triple-receptor research peptides in the ExoLabz catalogue

Four single-vial strengths and two bulk packs of triple-receptor incretin research peptide. Vial mass is nominal and includes counter-ion and residual water, so the peptide content is lower than the label figure — see net peptide content before converting a vial mass into a concentration, and what cost per milligram hides before comparing against another supplier’s price.

How it differs from the dual and single receptor peptides

The three compounds most often compared in this family differ in how many of the three receptors they engage, and that is the entire design distinction:

Single receptor (GLP-1R). Engages the GLP-1 receptor alone.
Dual receptor (GLP-1R / GIPR). Adds the GIP receptor, so one sequence engages two incretin pathways.
Triple receptor (GLP-1R / GIPR / GCGR). Adds the glucagon receptor. Retatrutide belongs to this third group.

What matters when reading the literature on any of them is that reported activity ratios depend on the assay that produced them: a binding affinity ratio and a functional potency ratio are different measurements and are not interchangeable. A compound can look balanced on affinity and markedly unbalanced on function, because the three receptors couple to their pathways with different efficiency. Our notes on incretin receptor pharmacology and on what Ki, IC50 and EC50 actually measure cover why.

Analysis, and why it matters more for this class

These are long peptides — the triple agonists run to around 39 residues with molecular masses above 4,700 g/mol — and length has analytical consequences. More residues means more synthesis cycles, so more opportunity for a deletion sequence, and the loss of one internal residue from a 39-residue chain is a small proportional mass change that a low-resolution instrument may not resolve. Several molecules in this family also carry fatty-acid or linker modifications that dominate their retention behaviour on a reverse-phase column.

The practical consequence: for this class, a purity percentage from HPLC peak area is a weaker guarantee than it would be for a short peptide, and confirming identity by mass matters more. Certificates of analysis are published per product on this site, with photographs of the batch; vials are matched to the certificate by cap and crimp colour rather than by a printed batch number. See where peptide impurities come from and how to read a certificate of analysis.

Research context

Triple-receptor agonism is characterised by relative potency at each receptor and by which downstream pathways are favoured, rather than by maximal activity everywhere. Published work in this area includes:

Zhao F, et al. Nat Commun. 2022;13:1057. Solved five cryo-EM structures of Gs-coupled GIPR, GLP-1R and GCGR at 3.0–3.5 Å and measured cAMP potency across site-directed receptor mutants. Source · PMID 35217653
Willard FS, et al. JCI Insight. 2020;5(17):e140532. Measured competition radioligand binding, cAMP accumulation, β-arrestin recruitment and receptor internalisation at human GIPR and GLP-1R in HEK293 and CHO-K1 cells. Source · PMID 32730231
Knerr PJ, et al. Mol Metab. 2022;63:101533. Engineered unimolecular triagonists with tuned in vitro GLP-1R/GIPR/GCGR potency ratios and measured food intake, body weight and energy expenditure in diet-induced obese mice. Source · PMID 35809773

For a fuller treatment of how these receptors signal and what balanced versus biased agonism means, see our article on incretin receptor pharmacology.

Ordering in Canada

Dispatch is domestic to every province and territory, so a Canadian order clears no customs, attracts no import duty and no carrier brokerage, and moves on a predictable domestic transit window rather than an unpredictable clearance queue. Canadian orders over $200 CAD ship free. Sales tax is calculated at checkout on the delivery province.

Provincial and city pages cover local delivery and the tax that applies:

Ontario — Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, London
Quebec — Montreal, Quebec City
Alberta — Calgary, Edmonton
British Columbia — Vancouver, Victoria
Everywhere else in Canada

On the choice between a Canadian supplier and an imported order, see importing research chemicals into Canada versus sourcing domestically, and on evaluating any supplier in this market, what to verify.

Supply and handling

Supplied as lyophilised powder. Certificates of analysis are published on this site. Store lyophilised material refrigerated at 2–8 °C; see our guide to peptide storage and stability.

Shipped from within Canada. Browse the full Incretin & Glucagon Peptides category.

This product is supplied for laboratory research use only. It is not approved for human consumption, clinical, or veterinary use, and holds no Canadian market authorisation for human use.

Retatrutide in Canada (GLP-1 / GIP / Glucagon)