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

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: 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 and 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 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 and the GLP-1-plus-amylin CagriSema — 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.