# GLP-1 medicines compared: every brand, side by side

> Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus, Mounjaro, Zepbound, Foundayo — which molecule, which maker, what it's approved for, how you take it, and how much weight people lose. One honest table.

**Evidence grade:** Established (rung 1 of 8 on the Peptide Evidence Ladder) · **Last reviewed:** 2026-07-01 · **Source page:** https://thepeptideera.com/evidence/glp1-medicines-compared

## Short answer
The GLP-1 brands map onto just a few molecules: Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus are all semaglutide (Novo Nordisk); Mounjaro and Zepbound are both tirzepatide (Eli Lilly); and Foundayo is orforglipron, a newer pill. Within each molecule, the different brand names mostly reflect the approved use (diabetes vs weight management) and how you take it (weekly injection vs daily pill) — not a different drug. Average weight loss runs about 15% for semaglutide, ~20% for tirzepatide, and ~11% for the orforglipron pill in their main trials.

## Key takeaways
- A few molecules, many brands. Ozempic / Wegovy / Rybelsus = semaglutide; Mounjaro / Zepbound = tirzepatide; Foundayo = orforglipron.
- The brand usually signals the approved use, not a different drug: the diabetes brands (Ozempic, Mounjaro, Rybelsus) vs the weight-management brands (Wegovy, Zepbound, Foundayo).
- Weekly shot or daily pill. Most are weekly injections; Rybelsus and Foundayo are daily pills, and there's now an oral Wegovy too.
- Average weight loss differs by molecule — roughly 15% (semaglutide), ~20% (tirzepatide), ~11% (orforglipron pill) — but these are averages from separate trials, not a head-to-head.

## Safety essentials worth knowing

These apply to GLP-1 and dual/triple-agonist medicines generally. They’re label-level points, not the full list, and not advice about you — your prescriber and the FDA label are the authority.

- **Pregnancy & breastfeeding:** these medicines are not recommended in pregnancy, and intentional weight loss is generally not advised in pregnancy; the labels advise stopping before a planned pregnancy. Breastfeeding status is a conversation to have with your clinician.
- **Birth control:** some of these medicines (such as tirzepatide) can make *oral* contraception less reliable. If you could become pregnant, ask about backup or non-oral contraception.
- **Thyroid boxed warning:** this drug class carries an FDA boxed warning (thyroid C-cell tumours seen in rodents) and is not for people with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) or MEN 2.
- **Blood sugar:** combined with insulin or a sulfonylurea, these medicines can cause low blood sugar — those other medicines often need prescriber-managed adjustment, not self-adjustment.
- **Eating disorders:** an appetite-suppressing medicine warrants particular caution with a current or past eating disorder; disclose this to your clinician.
- **Surgery, sedation & endoscopy:** because these medicines slow stomach emptying, tell your surgical or anaesthesia team you take a GLP-1 well in advance — they'll decide with you whether to continue or hold it (more: https://thepeptideera.com/evidence/glp1-and-surgery).

If the names feel like alphabet soup — Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound, Rybelsus, and now Foundayo — here is the whole landscape in one table. The trick most people miss: **there are only a handful of actual medicines here.** The brands mostly tell you *what a drug is approved for* and *how you take it*, not that it's a different molecule.

## The GLP-1 brands, side by side

| Brand | Molecule | Maker | Mainly approved for | How you take it | Typical average weight loss\* |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Ozempic** | Semaglutide | Novo Nordisk | Type 2 diabetes | Weekly injection | *(dosed for glucose, not weight)* |
| **Wegovy** | Semaglutide | Novo Nordisk | Weight management; heart-risk reduction | Weekly injection (also a daily pill) | ~15% |
| **Rybelsus** | Semaglutide | Novo Nordisk | Type 2 diabetes | Daily pill | *(dosed for glucose, not weight)* |
| **Mounjaro** | Tirzepatide (GLP-1 **+ GIP**) | Eli Lilly | Type 2 diabetes | Weekly injection | *(dosed for glucose, not weight)* |
| **Zepbound** | Tirzepatide (GLP-1 **+ GIP**) | Eli Lilly | Weight management; obstructive sleep apnea | Weekly injection | ~20% |
| **Foundayo** | Orforglipron | Eli Lilly | Weight management | Daily **pill** | ~11% |

\*Average from each drug's own main obesity trial, using each trial's primary estimand (STEP 1, SURMOUNT-1, ATTAIN-1) — **not a head-to-head**, and individuals land all over the average. Diabetes-brand cells are blank for weight because those products are dosed and labeled for blood-sugar control, even though weight change is also seen in their diabetes trials.

## The one idea that untangles all of it

The same molecule can wear two brand names — one approved for diabetes, one for weight. **Semaglutide** is *Ozempic* when it's prescribed for type 2 diabetes and *Wegovy* when it's prescribed (at a higher top dose) for weight management; it's *Rybelsus* as a daily tablet. **Tirzepatide** is *Mounjaro* for diabetes and *Zepbound* for weight and sleep apnea. This is the ["same molecule, different product" principle](/evidence/glp1-brand-decoder): the brand is a label about *use and packaging*, not a different chemistry. (It also means "which is stronger, Mounjaro or Zepbound?" is the wrong question — they're the same drug; see [Zepbound vs Wegovy](/evidence/zepbound-vs-wegovy) and [semaglutide vs tirzepatide](/evidence/semaglutide-vs-tirzepatide) for the comparisons that *do* matter.)

## Shot or pill?

Most of these are once-weekly injections. The exceptions are the **pills**: *Rybelsus* (daily oral semaglutide for diabetes, with strict empty-stomach timing rules — in the US, Novo Nordisk is moving this oral-diabetes product to a reformulated "Ozempic" pill) and the newer *Foundayo* (orforglipron, a daily pill with no food-or-water timing restrictions), plus an **oral Wegovy** tablet. Pills lower the needle barrier — a real advance for access — but today's pills generally deliver *less* average weight loss than the strongest injectables. What's right for any one person depends on the goal, the coverage, and the side-effect trade-offs, which is a conversation for a clinician. To frame that conversation, our [Which GLP-1? decision aid](/tools/compare-options) shows how the approved options line up on what matters to you and hands you the questions to ask — it never picks one for you.

## What's *not* in this table

The drugs generating the biggest headlines — the triple-agonist **[retatrutide](/evidence/retatrutide-evidence)** and the GLP-1-plus-amylin **[CagriSema](/evidence/cagrisema-glp1-amylin)** — are deliberately left out, because they are **investigational and not approved**. There's no brand, no pharmacy, and no legitimate way to get them outside a clinical trial; anything sold under those names online is unregulated. When they're approved (if they are), they'll earn a row here. For the foundations behind all of this, start with [what a GLP-1 actually is](/evidence/what-is-a-glp1).

## Sources (9)
1. Ozempic (semaglutide) — FDA Prescribing Information via DailyMed — https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=adec4fd2-6858-4c99-91d4-531f5f2a2d79 [LABEL]
2. Wegovy (semaglutide) — FDA Prescribing Information via DailyMed — https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=ee06186f-2aa3-4990-a760-757579d8f77b [LABEL]
3. Mounjaro (tirzepatide) — FDA Prescribing Information via DailyMed — https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=d2d7da5d-ad07-4228-955f-cf7e355c8cc0 [LABEL]
4. Zepbound (tirzepatide) — FDA Prescribing Information via DailyMed — https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=487cd7e7-434c-4925-99fa-aa80b1cc776b [LABEL]
5. Wilding JPH, et al. Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults with Overweight or Obesity (STEP 1). N Engl J Med. 2021;384:989–1002. — https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2032183 [RCT]
6. Jastreboff AM, et al. Tirzepatide Once Weekly for the Treatment of Obesity (SURMOUNT-1). N Engl J Med. 2022;387:205–216. — https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2206038 [RCT]
7. Foundayo (orforglipron) — FDA Prescribing Information via DailyMed — https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=8ac446c5-feba-474f-a103-23facb9b5c62 [LABEL]
8. Orforglipron, an Oral Small-Molecule GLP-1 Receptor Agonist for Obesity Treatment (ATTAIN-1, phase 3). N Engl J Med. 2025;393:1796–1806. DOI 10.1056/NEJMoa2511774. — https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2511774 [RCT]
9. FDA approves Lilly's Foundayo (orforglipron), the oral GLP-1 pill (Apr 2026) — https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fda-approves-lillys-foundayo-orforglipron-the-only-glp-1-pill-for-weight-loss-that-can-be-taken-any-time-of-day-without-food-or-water-restrictions-302731485.html [NEWS]

---
From The Peptide Era (https://thepeptideera.com) — evidence-graded, primary-sourced answers about GLP-1 medicines. Education, not medical advice. No doses, no sourcing.