Drug facts
Ozempic vs Wegovy
Quick answer
They are the same molecule — semaglutide — from the same manufacturer. Ozempic is approved for type 2 diabetes; Wegovy for weight reduction, for cardiovascular risk reduction, and for MASH. The dose ranges differ, and so does almost everything commercial that follows.
One molecule, two names1
Both are semaglutide, both from Novo Nordisk. If you have been told you are taking “Ozempic” and elsewhere seen the same thing called “semaglutide”, nothing has changed — one is a brand and the other is the drug.
What actually differs1
The approved indication, which is the root of it. Ozempic is approved to improve glycemic control in type 2 diabetes. Wegovy is approved to reduce excess body weight and maintain the reduction, to reduce major adverse cardiovascular events in adults with established cardiovascular disease and obesity or overweight, and for noncirrhotic MASH with moderate to advanced fibrosis under accelerated approval.
The doses. The weight-management label titrates to 2.4 mg once weekly and, after four weeks at that dose, permits an increase to a maximum of 7.2 mg. The diabetes label’s range is lower — which is exactly why SUSTAIN 7, a diabetes trial, reports smaller weight figures than STEP 1.
What follows commercially. Insurance treats them differently because they are prescribed for different conditions, the direct-purchase prices differ, and each label carries the warnings relevant to its own population.
What does not differ1
The active ingredient. The manufacturer. The boxed warning about thyroid C-cell tumors, which attaches to the molecule and therefore to both — see the boxed warning. And the answer to “is one stronger”: no. A 1 mg dose is a 1 mg dose.
Where compounded sits2
On the label — Wegovy / Ozempic
Two approved products, each with a label, an FDA-reviewed manufacturing process and trials of its own.
In a compounded vial
The same active molecule prepared by a pharmacy, with no label of its own and no FDA review of its manufacturing. It is not a third brand and it is not a generic — there is no generic semaglutide. Its price is set by whoever is selling it, which is why this index exists.
If it is Ozempic specifically that you are weighing a compounded vial against, the comparison — including Ozempic’s lower 2 mg ceiling and FDA’s warning about semaglutide salt forms — is on compounded semaglutide vs Ozempic.