Most people who type "is Wegovy the same as Mounjaro" have heard both names in the same breath. They're both weekly injections, both work on the GLP-1 receptor, and both cut appetite. But they are different molecules with different US labels [1] [2]. The useful question isn't which one is stronger. It's which label was written for someone like you.
Different drugs from different companies
Wegovy is Novo Nordisk's brand of semaglutide, the same molecule sold as Ozempic for diabetes. Its single target is the GLP-1 receptor, which responds to a gut hormone. It comes as a weekly pen and, since December 2025, as a daily pill.
Mounjaro is Eli Lilly's brand of tirzepatide. Tirzepatide targets the GIP receptor as well as GLP-1, so its label calls it an agonist of both [2]. Lilly sells the same molecule for weight and sleep apnea under a second name, Zepbound [3].
So there are four brand names on two molecules. Ozempic and Wegovy share semaglutide. Mounjaro and Zepbound share tirzepatide. The pairing that matters for this page is the cross-pair, which is why it confuses so many people.
Find your situation, then read across
Each row below is a common reason someone asks about these two drugs. The last column names the drug whose US label matches that situation when neither Wegovy nor Mounjaro does. Every cell comes from the current FDA labels on DailyMed.
| Your situation | Wegovy label? | Mounjaro label? | Like-for-like alternative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult with obesity, no diabetes | Yes, for weight | No | Zepbound (tirzepatide for weight) |
| Adult with overweight plus a weight-related condition | Yes, for weight | No | Zepbound |
| Type 2 diabetes, goal is blood-sugar control | No | Yes (adults and children 10+) | Ozempic (semaglutide for diabetes) |
| Type 2 diabetes and obesity | Yes, for weight | Yes, for blood sugar | Zepbound for weight; Ozempic for blood sugar |
| Heart disease with obesity or overweight | Yes, to cut heart-attack, stroke and heart-death risk | Only with type 2 diabetes at high heart risk | None needed |
| MASH with moderate to advanced fibrosis (F2 to F3) | Yes, adults (accelerated approval) | No | No tirzepatide product carries this label |
| Teen 12 to 17 with obesity | Yes, injection only | No | None (Zepbound is adults only) |
| Child 10 to 17 with type 2 diabetes | No | Yes | None needed |
| Obstructive sleep apnea with obesity | No | No | Zepbound |
Wegovy injection and tablets share one label; the tablets are approved for adults only and not for MASH. Labels read on DailyMed: Wegovy version 19, Mounjaro version 40, Zepbound version 40.
A few rows surprise people. Wegovy's heart-risk label covers adults with established heart disease and obesity or overweight; the SELECT trial behind it enrolled people without diabetes [1]. Mounjaro's heart-risk label, added in August 2026, is limited to adults whose type 2 diabetes puts them at high heart risk [2]. And only Zepbound, of the four brands, carries a sleep apnea label [3].
For weight, the head-to-head trial used Zepbound, not Mounjaro
If you're comparing these two for weight loss, the strongest evidence is a trial of the two molecules, not the two brands. In SURMOUNT-5, 751 adults with obesity and no diabetes took tirzepatide or semaglutide at their top weight doses for 72 weeks. Tirzepatide produced 20.2% average weight loss; semaglutide produced 13.7% [4]. Lilly, which makes tirzepatide, funded the trial.
That trial used the weight brands, so it compares Zepbound with Wegovy. The full breakdown is in Zepbound vs Wegovy, and the molecule-level story is in semaglutide vs tirzepatide.
In type 2 diabetes, SURPASS-2 compared Mounjaro's molecule with semaglutide 1 mg, the Ozempic dose. Over 40 weeks, A1C fell 2.01 to 2.30 points on tirzepatide and 1.86 on semaglutide, with 4.2 to 12.1 pounds (1.9 to 5.5 kg) of extra weight loss on tirzepatide [5]. That's a diabetes comparison with Ozempic, covered in Ozempic vs Mounjaro.
Why UK pages say Mounjaro is for weight loss
Search results for this question are crowded with UK and Australian pages, and many say Mounjaro is a weight-loss medicine. In the UK, that's true. On November 8, 2023, the UK regulator approved Mounjaro for weight loss and weight management in adults [6].
The US went another way: Lilly put the weight indication on a separately named product, Zepbound. So a US prescription for Mounjaro is a diabetes prescription. Using it for weight without diabetes would be off-label, and insurers usually treat it that way.
Side effects look alike because the drugs act alike
Both labels list nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, constipation and stomach pain as the most common problems, and each label opens with a boxed warning about thyroid C-cell tumors found in rodent studies. Neither should be used by someone with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer or MEN 2 [1] [2].
- Wegovy: in the weight trials, 73% of people on the injection reported stomach or bowel side effects, against 47% on placebo. Most happened while the dose was being raised [1].
- Mounjaro: in the diabetes trials, 37% to 44% of people on tirzepatide reported them, against 20% on placebo, again mostly early [2].
Those numbers come from different trials in different people, so they don't rank the drugs. People with diabetes on lower doses tend to report fewer GI effects than people taking weight doses. For detail, see Wegovy side effects and is Mounjaro safe.
Self-pay: Wegovy starts lower, and the gap stays
Both makers sell direct to cash-paying patients with a prescription. The prices below are each company's own self-pay offers as of this update.
| Product | Self-pay price | Conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Wegovy pen (0.25 to 2.4 mg) | $199 a month for the first 2 fills, then $349 a month | Starter price for new patients on 0.25 or 0.5 mg, through December 31, 2026 |
| Wegovy HD pen (7.2 mg) | $399 a month | NovoCare Pharmacy |
| Wegovy pill | $149 to $299 a month | Price rises with tablet strength; 30 tablets a month |
| Mounjaro pen (2.5 to 15 mg) | Starting at $499 a month | LillyDirect; same starting price at every strength |
| Zepbound (for comparison) | $299 to $449 a month [9] | LillyDirect; $449 tiers require a refill within 45 days |
NovoCare says its pricing will be updated after December 31, 2026. Insurance coverage, if you have it, can make either drug cheaper than these prices.
Paying cash, a year on the Wegovy pen comes to about $3,888 by our arithmetic: two fills at $199 and ten at $349 [7]. Mounjaro at $499 a month is $5,988 [8]. If weight is the goal, Zepbound is the cheaper tirzepatide too. See what Wegovy costs and what Zepbound costs for every tier.