Falsified and problematic methandienone products available online: active pharmaceutical ingredient identification by portable Raman spectrometers and quantification by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–Fourier transform mass spectrometry

This study aimed on the one hand to clarify the quality, authenticity, safety, and other issues related to products of the anabolic-androgenic steroid methandienone advertised on the Internet and personally imported to Japan and on the other hand to evaluate the use of two portable Raman spectrometers in identifying the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). The study found that all n = 15 samples purchased from 14 websites were problematic regarding their package, labeling, and/or content. Specifically, one sample (6.7