On this page
People ask "Ozempic vs Wegovy" because a clinic, a news clip, or a relative used one name for both. The GLP-1 drugs list puts every brand in one table. This page stays on these two. The trial file for the molecule is the semaglutide research profile. Tirzepatide, which is Mounjaro and Zepbound, is a different molecule: semaglutide vs tirzepatide.
What each label is for
Ozempic, on the label revised May 2026, is a GLP-1 receptor agonist indicated as an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes. The same label adds two outcome uses. One is fewer major adverse cardiovascular events (cardiovascular death, non-fatal heart attack, or non-fatal stroke) in adults with type 2 diabetes and established cardiovascular disease. The other is a lower risk of sustained eGFR decline, end-stage kidney disease, and cardiovascular death in adults with type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease. Novo Nordisk announced that kidney indication on January 28, 2025. The label marks it 1/2025.
The May 2026 Ozempic label does not list chronic weight management, and it does not list MASH. Weight loss appears inside diabetes trials as a measured change. That is not the same sentence as an obesity indication. STEP 1, the 68-week trial of semaglutide 2.4 mg weekly in adults with overweight or obesity and no diabetes, is the Wegovy-dose study, written up on the semaglutide profile.
Wegovy's June 4, 2021 approval was chronic weight management in adults with obesity, or overweight with at least one weight-related condition, plus diet and physical activity. FDA's March 8, 2024 announcement added cardiovascular death, heart attack, and stroke in adults who already have cardiovascular disease and either obesity or overweight. On August 15, 2025 FDA granted accelerated approval for noncirrhotic MASH with moderate to advanced fibrosis. The letter says continued approval for that use may depend on a confirmatory trial. The current label also includes weight reduction in pediatric patients 12 years and older for the injection.
The Wegovy tablets are a third product shape. FDA approved them December 22, 2025 for cardiovascular risk reduction and for weight reduction in adults. The label says their safety and effectiveness have not been established in pediatric patients. The MASH line on the label is the injection, not the tablet. The tablet's own file is the Wegovy pill. The morning rule next to Lilly's non-peptide pill is Foundayo vs the Wegovy pill.
The strengths the labels list
These numbers are what the labels name. They are not instructions.
The May 2026 Ozempic label describes a weekly injection. It starts at 0.25 mg. The treatment strengths it then names are 0.5 mg, 1 mg, and 2 mg. For the kidney outcome, the label says to increase to 1 mg weekly after at least four weeks on 0.5 mg. This page is not going to turn that sentence into a personal schedule.
The Wegovy label that includes the March 19, 2026 supplement lists single-dose pens of 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg, 1 mg, 1.7 mg, 2.4 mg, and Wegovy HD 7.2 mg. It calls 2.4 mg once weekly the usual recommended maintenance dosage of the injection, and it says the recommended maintenance for the MASH indication is 2.4 mg weekly, with 1.7 mg named if 2.4 mg is not tolerated. FDA's March 19, 2026 announcement describes the 7.2 mg weekly injection as an added option for weight reduction in adults with obesity, or overweight with a weight-related condition. The tablet side of that label lists 1.5 mg, 4 mg, 9 mg, and 25 mg, and it calls 25 mg the recommended maintenance dosage for cardiovascular risk reduction and weight reduction in adults.
Ozempic's ceiling on that label is 2 mg weekly. Wegovy's usual injection maintenance is 2.4 mg weekly, and a 7.2 mg pen now exists. That gap is why "it's the same drug" is a chemistry answer and a bad pharmacy answer. A 2 mg Ozempic pen is not the product FDA approved as Wegovy.
Read this next GLP-1 drugs list
The Wegovy label's limitation of use says concomitant use of the tablets or the injection with other semaglutide-containing products, or with any other GLP-1 receptor agonist, is not recommended. Ozempic is a semaglutide-containing product. The label does not include a section on how to move from one pen to the other. That decision sits with a prescriber, not with a chart on a website.
What the trials were studying
STEP 1 randomized 1,961 adults with overweight or obesity and no diabetes to semaglutide 2.4 mg weekly or placebo, both with a lifestyle intervention, for 68 weeks. Mean weight change was 14.9% versus 2.4%. That dose is the Wegovy maintenance dose, not an Ozempic strength. The paper is PMID 33567185.
SELECT randomized 17,604 adults 45 and older with overweight or obesity and established cardiovascular disease, and no diabetes, to semaglutide 2.4 mg weekly or placebo. Major cardiovascular events occurred in 6.5% versus 8.0% over a mean 39.8 months, hazard ratio 0.80. That is the trial behind Wegovy's 2024 cardiovascular indication, not a diabetes trial. PMID 37952131.
Ozempic's cardiovascular indication traces to SUSTAIN 6, in adults with type 2 diabetes at high cardiovascular risk. The kidney indication traces to FLOW. Both are on the semaglutide profile and the kidney outcomes page. Reading a diabetes trial as if it were STEP 1, or STEP 1 as if it were a prescription for Ozempic, mixes the populations the labels kept apart.
Stopping is its own question. In the STEP 1 extension, people who came off semaglutide 2.4 mg weekly regained about two-thirds of the lost weight within a year. That write-up is stopping semaglutide. The extension followed withdrawal of the Wegovy dose in that study. It does not compare the Ozempic pen with the Wegovy pen.
Side effects the labels share, and do not share
Both labels carry the boxed warning about thyroid C-cell tumors in rodents, and both say it is unknown whether semaglutide causes those tumors, including medullary thyroid cancer, in people. Both say the product is contraindicated with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer or with Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia syndrome type 2. The human studies and the limits of those studies are the semaglutide thyroid warning.
Gastrointestinal effects are the common ones in the trial tables: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain. The labels also warn about pancreatitis, gallbladder disease, and low blood sugar when the drug is used with insulin or a sulfonylurea. Those warnings are reasons to read the label with a clinician. They are not a ranking of which brand is "gentler." The trials enrolled different people for different purposes. A side-effect percentage from STEP 1 is not a side-effect percentage from a diabetes trial, and this page does not subtract them.
FDA's March 19, 2026 announcement of the 7.2 mg dose said altered skin sensation (sensitivity, pain, or burning) was common, more frequent at the higher dosage than at lower ones, and generally resolved on its own or with a dose reduction. The agency said it is still investigating that reaction. That sentence is about the higher Wegovy dose. It is not an Ozempic finding.
United States, Canada, and everywhere else
In the United States both are prescription medicines. Ozempic is the diabetes product. Wegovy is the weight, cardiovascular, and MASH product, with the tablet and the 7.2 mg pen as later Wegovy approvals. Unapproved or compounded products that use the names are not these products. That file is compounded semaglutide vs Ozempic.
In Canada, Health Canada's Drug Product Database lists Ozempic as marketed. DIN 02471469 has an original market date of February 22, 2018. Wegovy injection pens are marketed, including DIN 02528517. The October 17, 2026 database check recorded on the pill page found no Wegovy tablet. This page did not confirm a Canadian 7.2 mg pen. Health Canada's November 21, 2025 qualifying notice, accepted with the sponsor's undertaking on November 28, 2025, expands Wegovy to noncirrhotic MASH under a notice of compliance with conditions. That is a Canadian decision about Wegovy, not a finding that Ozempic gained the same use.
Other countries were not reviewed for this comparison. An approval in one country does not move the label in another.
Common questions
Is Ozempic vs Wegovy the same drug?
Both contain semaglutide. They are different FDA-approved products. Ozempic's May 2026 label is type 2 diabetes, with cardiovascular and kidney uses in adults who also have those diseases. Wegovy's label is weight management, a cardiovascular use in obesity or overweight with existing cardiovascular disease, and an accelerated MASH approval for the injection.
Why is the Wegovy maintenance strength higher?
The Wegovy label calls 2.4 mg once weekly the usual maintenance for the injection. The Ozempic label's treatment strengths stop at 2 mg weekly. Those are the strengths in the applications FDA approved. This page does not turn them into a dosing plan.
Can you take Ozempic and Wegovy together?
The Wegovy label says concomitant use with other semaglutide-containing products, or with any other GLP-1 receptor agonist, is not recommended. Ozempic is a semaglutide product.
Is the Wegovy pill the same as Ozempic?
No. The pill is oral semaglutide, approved December 22, 2025 as Wegovy tablets, for adults. Ozempic is an injection labeled for type 2 diabetes. The tablet's safety and effectiveness in pediatric patients are not established on the Wegovy label.
Which one is approved in Canada?
Ozempic is marketed, and Wegovy injection pens are marketed. A Wegovy tablet was not in the October 17, 2026 Drug Product Database check recorded on the pill comparison. This page did not confirm a Canadian 7.2 mg pen.
Does STEP 1 apply to Ozempic?
STEP 1 tested semaglutide 2.4 mg weekly, the Wegovy maintenance strength, in adults without diabetes. It is evidence for that product and that population. It is not the Ozempic diabetes label.
Sources
Methodology. Labels and approval letters checked October 23, 2026. Trial numbers are from the published STEP 1 and SELECT papers already cited on the semaglutide profile. Canadian status uses the Drug Product Database and the Wegovy MASH regulatory decision summary. No prices. No personal dosing schedule.
Primary sources.
- Ozempic label, revised May 2026: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2026/209637s038lbl.pdf
- Wegovy label including the March 19, 2026 supplement: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2026/215256s029lbl.pdf
- Wegovy injection approval package, June 4, 2021: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/nda/2021/215256Orig1s000Approv.pdf
- FDA, Wegovy cardiovascular indication, March 8, 2024: https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-treatment-reduce-risk-serious-heart-problems-specifically-adults-obesity-or
- Wegovy MASH approval letter, August 15, 2025: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/appletter/2025/215256Orig1s024ltr.pdf
- Wegovy tablets approval package, December 22, 2025: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/nda/2026/218316Orig1s000Approv.pdf
- FDA, Wegovy HD, March 19, 2026: https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-fourth-product-under-national-priority-voucher-program-higher-dose-semaglutide
- Wilding et al., STEP 1, PMID 33567185: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33567185/
- Lincoff et al., SELECT, PMID 37952131: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37952131/
- Novo Nordisk, Ozempic kidney indication, January 28, 2025: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fda-approves-ozempic-semaglutide-as-the-only-glp-1-ra-to-reduce-the-risk-of-worsening-kidney-disease-and-cardiovascular-death-in-adults-with-type-2-diabetes-and-chronic-kidney-disease-302362466.html
- Health Canada, Ozempic DIN 02471469: https://health-products.canada.ca/dpd-bdpp/info?code=96058&lang=eng
- Health Canada, Wegovy MASH regulatory decision summary: https://dhpp.hpfb-dgpsa.ca/review-documents/resource/RDS1766074543990/
Changes. October 23, 2026: first published.
