On this page
The GLP-1 drugs list is the five-name table. Ozempic vs Wegovy is the pen comparison. This page stays on the tablet. Lilly's non-peptide pill is a different molecule, and the morning-rule comparison with that pill is Foundayo vs the Wegovy pill.
Three semaglutide products, not one
Ozempic, Rybelsus, and Wegovy are different approved products of semaglutide. The semaglutide research profile separates them. Approval of the pen does not approve the tablet, and approval of the tablet does not approve a compounded copy or a vial sold online under the same word.
The Wegovy pen's first approval letter is June 4, 2021, for chronic weight management. Later supplements added a cardiovascular use and, for the injection, accelerated approval for noncirrhotic MASH. The tablet approval package is December 22, 2025. The label that includes the tablet says the tablets' safety and effectiveness have not been established in pediatric patients, and it writes the MASH indication for the injection, not the tablet.
Rybelsus is the older oral semaglutide product, indicated for type 2 diabetes. The December 22, 2025 package is the Wegovy tablet, a different application. This page does not restate the Rybelsus label.
What the tablet label is for
The December 22, 2025 approval is two adult uses: chronic weight management, and cardiovascular risk reduction in adults who already have cardiovascular disease and either obesity or overweight. Both sit with diet and physical activity. The 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.
The tablet label lists 1.5 mg, 4 mg, 9 mg, and 25 mg. It calls 25 mg the recommended maintenance dosage for the cardiovascular use and for weight reduction in adults. Those are label strengths. They are not a personal schedule, and this page does not repeat the step-up the label uses to reach 25 mg.
The pen side of the Wegovy label is a different list: single-dose pens, a usual maintenance of 2.4 mg once weekly for the injection, and a 7.2 mg pen FDA announced on March 19, 2026. A milligram on the tablet is not a milligram on the pen. Swallowing a tablet and using a pen are different products with different labels.
The morning rule on the label
The Wegovy tablet label, NDA 218316, says to take the tablet in the morning on an empty stomach, swallow it whole with up to 4 ounces of plain water, and wait at least 30 minutes before food, other drinks, or other oral medicines. The label says absorption happens mostly in the stomach, and that a longer wait after the tablet raises absorption. Four ounces of water is the label's ceiling for that swallow, not a suggestion to chase the tablet with coffee.
Read this next Foundayo vs the Wegovy pill
The same label says the tablet is co-formulated with salcaprozate sodium, abbreviated SNAC. That is the absorption enhancer. It is why this tablet has a waiting rule the Wegovy pen does not.
Foundayo (orforglipron) is not semaglutide. FDA approved it April 1, 2026 and described a pill that does not need an empty stomach. The trial averages, the side-effect tables, and the "which morning is livable" comparison belong on Foundayo vs the Wegovy pill. This page does not rerun that comparison.
What OASIS 4 measured
OASIS 4 is the 64-week trial behind the tablet's weight figures in adults without diabetes. The FDA label's intent-to-treat figure, checked for the Foundayo comparison on October 17, 2026, is an average loss of 13.6% at 64 weeks, against 2.4% on placebo, in 307 adults. The NEJM paper (Wharton et al., 10.1056/NEJMoa2500969) estimates 13.6% against 2.2% on placebo. Novo Nordisk's approval release puts the "everyone stayed on treatment" figure at 16.6%, against 2.7% on placebo. Those are three analyses of one trial. They are not a head-to-head against the Wegovy pen, and they are not a head-to-head against Foundayo.
The NEJM paper reported gastrointestinal adverse events in 74.0% of people on the Wegovy pill and 42.2% on placebo. The class boxed warning about thyroid C-cell tumors in rodents is on the label, with the same statement the pen label carries: it is unknown whether semaglutide causes those tumors in people. The human studies this site has written up are the semaglutide thyroid warning.
Canada, and the check this page could not repeat
On October 17, 2026, a Drug Product Database search recorded on the Foundayo page found every Wegovy entry to be an injection pen, not a tablet. On October 26, 2026, the database's product pages returned a maintenance notice, so this page does not claim a new search result. No later authorization notice for a Canadian Wegovy tablet was opened. Until a Drug Identification Number for the tablet shows up in a page this site can open, the October 17 record stands: pens, not a tablet.
Generic semaglutide injections authorized in Canada in 2026 are a separate file. They are not this tablet. The notices and DINs are on generic semaglutide in Canada.
Common questions
What is the Wegovy pill?
A semaglutide tablet FDA approved on December 22, 2025 for weight reduction in adults and for cardiovascular risk reduction in defined adults. It is not the Wegovy pen and it is not Rybelsus.
Does the Wegovy pill need an empty stomach?
The tablet label says yes: morning, empty stomach, up to 4 ounces of plain water, then at least 30 minutes before food, other drinks, or other oral medicines.
Is the Wegovy pill approved for MASH?
The MASH line on the Wegovy label is the injection. The tablet label says safety and effectiveness have not been established in pediatric patients, and it does not put the MASH indication on the tablet.
Is the Wegovy pill approved in Canada?
The October 17, 2026 Drug Product Database check found Wegovy injection pens and no Wegovy tablet. The database was in maintenance on October 26, 2026, so this page did not confirm a newer row.
Is the Wegovy pill the same as Foundayo?
No. The Wegovy pill is semaglutide, a peptide, with SNAC in the tablet. Foundayo is orforglipron, a non-peptide, approved April 1, 2026. The comparison is on the Foundayo page.
Sources
Methodology. Status checked October 26, 2026. The tablet label facts and the OASIS 4 figures are the ones tied, on October 17, 2026, to NDA 218316, the NEJM abstract, and Novo Nordisk's approval release, and restated from the label on the October 23 GLP-1 drugs list. This page did not re-read the full OASIS 4 paper line by line. The Canada statement is the October 17 Drug Product Database check. A direct database fetch on October 26 returned a maintenance page.
Primary sources.
- Wegovy tablets label, NDA 218316: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2026/218316s005lbl.pdf
- Wegovy tablets approval package, December 22, 2025: https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/nda/2026/218316Orig1s000Approv.pdf
- Novo Nordisk, Wegovy pill FDA approval, December 22, 2025: https://www.novonordisk-us.com/media/press-releases/wegovy-pill-fda-approval-obesity.html
- Wharton et al., OASIS 4, NEJM: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2500969
- FDA, Wegovy 7.2 mg injection, March 19, 2026: https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-fourth-product-under-national-priority-voucher-program-higher-dose-semaglutide
- Health Canada Drug Product Database: https://health-products.canada.ca/dpd-bdpp/
