Medication index

Semaglutide: Wegovy, Ozempic and Rybelsus Compared

One molecule, several brand names, and two different jobs. Most confusion about semaglutide comes from treating those brands as interchangeable when the FDA approved them for different things.

  • One moleculeSemaglutide, sold under four brand names in the United States
  • Two jobsWeight management, and type 2 diabetes. Different approvals, different brands
  • Both routesInjection and tablet, each approved under its own application
  • Novo NordiskHolds every approved semaglutide application in the United States

Regulatory status

Semaglutide is FDA-approved and available on prescription. Wegovy is approved for weight management and Ozempic for type 2 diabetes, with oral forms approved under their own separate applications. Compounded semaglutide is a different matter and is covered separately.

The short version

Semaglutide is a GLP-1 receptor agonist — a peptide that mimics a gut hormone released after eating, which slows stomach emptying and reduces appetite. It is the same active ingredient in every product below. What differs is which condition each product was approved to treat, and how it is taken.

The practical consequence is that “I’m on Ozempic for weight loss” describes off-label use, while “I’m on Wegovy for weight loss” describes the approved one. Both happen, both are legal, and the distinction matters for insurance coverage more than for pharmacology.

Every approved semaglutide product

Read from the FDA’s own approvals database rather than from marketing material. Each application number is a separate approval with its own indication.

  • Wegovy — injection. NDA 215256. The weight-management product. The same application also covers Wegovy FlexTouch and Wegovy HD, a higher-strength version, so those are variants of one approval rather than separate drugs.
  • Wegovy — tablet. NDA 218316. An oral form of the weight-management product, approved under its own separate application. This is the one usually referred to as the Wegovy pill, and it is a genuinely distinct approval from the injection above.
  • Ozempic — injection. NDA 209637. The type 2 diabetes product. Same molecule as Wegovy, different approval, and not approved for weight management — which is why prescribing it for weight loss is off-label.
  • Rybelsus — tablet. NDA 213051 and NDA 213182. Oral semaglutide for type 2 diabetes. The original oral form, and the reason an oral weight-management version was plausible in the first place.

Worth knowing

Wegovy and Ozempic are not two drugs. They are one drug approved twice, for two conditions, at different strengths. Insurance treats them as entirely separate things, which is where most of the practical difficulty lives.

What we have looked at in detail

  • Semaglutide side effects. What the labelling actually says, including the boxed warning about thyroid C-cell tumours and what the rodent finding does and does not establish about people.
  • Compounded semaglutide. Why the FDA describes some compounded salt forms as different active ingredients from the approved drug, and what that means for anyone buying a cheaper version.
  • Wegovy vs Zepbound. Semaglutide against tirzepatide, the dual-agonist competitor, on the evidence that compares them directly.
  • Cost without insurance. Self-pay pricing across the manufacturer programmes and the telehealth platforms, and where the two diverge.

Where semaglutide sits in the class

Semaglutide is one member of a drug class that has grown quickly, and the others are worth knowing about because they change what the choice looks like.

Tirzepatide, sold as Zepbound for weight management and Mounjaro for diabetes, acts on two receptors rather than one. Liraglutide, sold as Saxenda and Victoza, is the older GLP-1 in the same family. And orforglipron, approved as Foundayo, is the one that breaks the pattern: a GLP-1 receptor agonist that is not a peptide at all, but a small molecule taken as a tablet.

Worth knowing

“Oral GLP-1” now describes two quite different things: a peptide formulated to survive being swallowed, as with Rybelsus and the Wegovy tablet, and a small molecule that was never a peptide to begin with. They arrive at the same receptor by different routes.

Pages on each of these are in progress. Until they are published, the comparison we have is Wegovy against Zepbound, which covers the two products most people are actually choosing between.

What this site will not tell you

  • What amount to take, or how to move between strengths. That is set by the prescribing information and by the clinician prescribing it.
  • Which product you should ask for. Wegovy and Ozempic are approved for different conditions, and which applies to you is a clinical question.
  • Where to buy semaglutide without a prescription. Every approved product is prescription-only, and anything sold otherwise is not one of them.

Sources and method

  • Every product and application number. Read from Drugs@FDA, the agency’s approvals database, queried by brand name. Brand names, dosage forms, application numbers and sponsors are taken directly from those records.
  • What we could not verify. We report which application covers which product and route, not the full indication text of each label, which we have not reproduced here. We have not independently confirmed which strengths are currently in distribution, and availability changes faster than any page can track.
  • Method. Approvals are read from the FDA’s database rather than from press coverage or manufacturer material. Where a brand is a variant under an existing application rather than a new approval, this page says so instead of presenting it as a new drug.

GLP-1 medications →   Regulatory tracker →   How we source and verify →

Drugs@FDA checked 30 August 2026. We recheck this page when a new semaglutide product is approved.