Compare treatments
Compounded semaglutide vs compounded tirzepatide
Two weekly injections with different molecules and different published titrations, compared attribute by attribute with a source on every clinical row.
This page is general information, not medical advice. Compounded medications are not FDA-approved and have not been evaluated by the FDA for safety, efficacy, or quality. A qualified clinician determines whether treatment is appropriate for you.
Generated from the family's dataset. No clinician has reviewed this page as a document.
What actually differs
Route and schedule are the same on both sides here: an injection under the skin, once a week. What differs is the molecule, the ladder of doses its label publishes on the way to a maintenance dose, and what that label is approved for.
With the route identical, the rows below are mostly a reading of two titrations against each other — so each one names the document it came from.
What this page does not tell you
It does not tell you which of the two to take. That is a clinical decision, and it depends on a medical history this page has never seen — which is also why there is no row below the table with a verdict in it.
It also does not report a head-to-head result, because neither reference label carries one against the other medicine named here. The two sets of trial results were measured in different groups of people, over different lengths of time, so reading the columns against each other as a contest reads something into them that the documents do not say.
Every cited row in the semaglutide column is read from the label of Wegovy, an approved semaglutide injection. What this site dispenses is a compounded preparation of the same molecule, which is not the product that label describes and was not the product its trials studied. DailyMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2026-06-30
Every cited row in the tirzepatide column is read from the label of Zepbound, an approved tirzepatide injection. What this site dispenses is a compounded preparation of the same molecule, which is not the product that label describes and was not the product its trials studied. DailyMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2026-09-02
The Wegovy label reports its results from trials in adults with obesity, or with overweight and at least one weight-related condition, treated for 68 weeks. DailyMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2026-06-30
The Zepbound label reports its results from trials in adults with obesity, or with overweight and at least one weight-related condition, treated for 72 weeks. DailyMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2026-09-02
| Attribute | compounded semaglutide | compounded tirzepatide |
|---|---|---|
| How it is taken | An injection under the skin of the abdomen, thigh or upper arm. DailyMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2026-06-30 | An injection under the skin of the abdomen, thigh or upper arm. DailyMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2026-09-02 |
| How often | Once a week, on the same day each week. DailyMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2026-06-30 | Once a week, on the same day each week. DailyMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2026-09-02 |
| Published dose escalation | The label escalates over 16 weeks — 0.25 mg once weekly, then 0.5 mg, then 1 mg, then 1.7 mg, four weeks at each step — before the 2.4 mg maintenance dose. DailyMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2026-06-30 | The label starts at 2.5 mg once weekly for four weeks, then 5 mg once weekly, with any further increase in 2.5 mg steps after at least four weeks; the maintenance doses are 5 mg, 10 mg and 15 mg. DailyMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2026-09-02 |
| What the reference label reports for tolerability | The label lists nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, constipation and abdominal pain among the most common adverse reactions. DailyMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2026-06-30 | The label lists nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, constipation, abdominal pain and injection-site reactions among the most common adverse reactions. DailyMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2026-09-02 |
| What the reference label is approved for | The reference product is approved for long-term weight management alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity. DailyMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2026-06-30 | The reference product is approved for long-term weight management alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity, and separately for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea in adults with obesity. DailyMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2026-09-02 |
| What it costs here | $146/moBilled monthly on a 6-month plan | $229/moBilled monthly on a 6-month plan |