These are the two tablets approved in the US for weight management: the Wegovy pill (oral semaglutide, Novo Nordisk) and Foundayo (orforglipron, Eli Lilly). This page sets their labels side by side and reports what each maker's price page said when read. It reads the WEGOVY prescribing information (effective 18 June 2026) and the FOUNDAYO prescribing information (NDA 220934, effective 29 July 2026) from DailyMed, and the makers' self-pay pages, all on 24 September 2026.
The most important line on this page: no trial has compared them. Every number below comes from each drug against its own placebo. Both labels say rates from one drug's trials "cannot be directly compared" with another's. So this page can show where the two records differ; it cannot tell anyone which to take, and nothing here is a recommendation.
At a glance
| Wegovy pill | Foundayo | |
|---|---|---|
| Molecule | semaglutide (a peptide) | orforglipron (not a peptide) |
| Maker | Novo Nordisk | Eli Lilly |
| Approved uses | weight management; cardiovascular risk reduction in adults with heart disease and overweight | weight management only |
| Tablet strengths | 1.5, 4, 9, 25 mg | 0.8, 2.5, 5.5, 9, 14.5, 17.2 mg |
| Label steps to the top dose | 3 | 5 |
| Food and water | empty stomach; ≤4 oz water; wait 30 min | "with or without food" |
| Absolute bioavailability | about 1% to 2% | about 77% |
| Trials behind the weight indication | 1 (307 people) | 2 (about 4,700 people) |
The dosing schedules themselves are in each label and on our titration schedules page; this page does not reproduce them.
Weight loss, each against its own placebo
Both trials enrolled adults with obesity, or overweight plus a weight-related condition, and without type 2 diabetes, with diet and activity counselling in every arm.
| At the end of the trial | Wegovy pill 25 mg (Study 7, 64 wk) | Placebo | Foundayo 17.2 mg (Trial 1, 72 wk) | Placebo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average weight change | −13.6% | −2.4% | −11.1% | −2.1% |
| Difference from placebo | −11.2 points | −9.0 points | ||
| Lost at least 5% | 76.3% | 31.3% | 71.5% | 26.8% |
| Lost at least 10% | 59.8% | 14.4% | 54.5% | 13.0% |
| Lost at least 15% | 47.0% | 5.5% | 35.9% | 6.0% |
| Lost at least 20% | 27.9% | 3.1% | 18.4% | 2.9% |
| People in the trial | 307 | 3,127 | ||
| Weight missing at the end (drug arm / placebo) | 6.3% / 11.8% | 15% / 24% |
On these numbers the Wegovy pill's trial shows the larger effect at every threshold. Four reasons it does not settle the question, all from the labels:
- Size. Study 7 randomised 307 people; Foundayo's Trial 1 randomised 3,127. The smaller trial's estimate is far less certain — the label's interval on its placebo difference runs from −8.8 to −13.6 points.
- Length. 64 weeks against 72.
- Population. Study 7 was 79% women and 92% White; Foundayo's pooled trials were 41% men and 25% Asian. Weight loss on these drugs differs between groups like these.
- Missing data. A quarter of Foundayo's placebo group and 15% of its 17.2 mg group had no final weight, against 12% and 6% in Study 7. Both labels impute the gaps; the choice of method moves the result.
Foundayo also has a second trial in people with type 2 diabetes (Trial 2): −7.1 points from placebo at 17.2 mg. The Wegovy tablet has no weight trial in diabetes in its label, which instead describes switching to the injection for people with diabetes who need more.
Who stopped, and the size of each safety record
| Wegovy pill 25 mg | Foundayo | |
|---|---|---|
| People treated in the safety data | 204 (up to 64 weeks) | 3,155 (up to 72 weeks) |
| Stopped for any adverse reaction | 6.9% vs 5.9% placebo | 6% / 9% / 10% on 5.5 / 9 / 17.2 mg vs 3% placebo |
| Stopped for a stomach reaction | 3.4% vs 2% placebo | 3% / 6% / 6% vs 0.7% placebo |
| Own side-effect table in the label | No — "similar to" the injection's table | Yes |
The asymmetry is the finding here. Foundayo's label counts its side effects from over three thousand people on the tablet. The Wegovy label does not print a table for the tablet at all; it says the tablet trial's common reactions were "similar to" those of the injection, whose table comes from different trials. So a reader comparing the two nausea figures is comparing Foundayo's own count with a semaglutide-injection count standing in for the pill.
Foundayo's own table, at 17.2 mg against placebo: nausea 35% vs 10%, vomiting 24% vs 4%, constipation 24% vs 9%, diarrhoea 25% vs 11%, indigestion 13% vs 4%. Any gastrointestinal reaction: 69% against 37%. The Wegovy injection's figures are in the injection label's counted reactions.
Other Foundayo-label counts with no Wegovy-tablet equivalent printed: heart rate up 4–5 beats per minute (tachycardia reported in 3% against 0.9%); low blood pressure 2% against 0.5%, and 4% in people already on blood-pressure medicines.
The daily rules
| Wegovy pill | Foundayo | |
|---|---|---|
| Timing | morning, on an empty stomach | any time, once a day |
| With food | no | "with or without food" |
| Water | plain water only, up to 4 oz | no rule |
| Wait before eating or other tablets | at least 30 minutes | none |
| Missed dose (label) | skip it; take the next the following day | take it as soon as possible; do not double; after 7 or more missed in a row, restart escalation lower |
For a person who takes other morning tablets, the Wegovy pill's 30-minute window is a real constraint; the label ties it to absorption, not preference. Our pill versus injection page explains why the routine is part of the dose for a semaglutide tablet.
Interactions that differ
- Foundayo is processed by the liver enzyme CYP3A4. Its label caps the dose at 9 mg with a strong CYP3A4 inhibitor, says to avoid strong inhibitors that also block OATP1B (ritonavir is its example) and strong inducers, and limits simvastatin to 20 mg a day alongside it. Semaglutide has no such list.
- The Wegovy pill raised levothyroxine exposure by 33% in the shared semaglutide-tablet interaction study (reported in the Rybelsus and Ozempic tablets label; see our Ozempic pill page).
- Oral contraceptives. Foundayo's label advises switching to a non-oral method or adding a barrier method for 30 days after starting and after each dose increase, and — from animal studies — using effective contraception during treatment. Pregnancy guidance for both is on our pregnancy page.
Which of these matter for a particular person is a question for their prescriber or pharmacist.
What they cost, read on 24 September 2026
| Monthly self-pay | Wegovy pill | Foundayo (regular) | Foundayo (offer, to 31 Dec 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting dose | $149 (1.5 mg) | $149 (0.8 mg) | $149 |
| Second step | $199 (4 mg) | $199 (2.5 mg) | $149 |
| Middle | $299 (9 mg) | $299 (5.5 mg), $299 (9 mg) | $199 (5.5 mg) |
| Top | $299 (25 mg) | $349 (14.5 mg, 17.2 mg) | $299 on qualifying refills |
Foundayo's $299 top-dose price comes from Lilly's "Self-Pay Journey Program": applied automatically on the first purchase of 14.5 or 17.2 mg, and kept only if each refill is bought within 45 days of the last. Both makers advertise commercial-insurance savings cards from $25 a month with caps, and $50 a month through the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge (for Wegovy pen and pill, 1 July 2026 to 31 December 2027). Prices in this market have changed repeatedly; the date is part of the figure. The longer-running record is on our GLP-1 pills cost page and cheapest GLP-1 without insurance page.
What neither label tells you
- Which works better. There is no head-to-head trial, and the labels say cross-trial comparisons are not valid.
- The Wegovy tablet's own side-effect rates, beyond discontinuation.
- Long-term outcomes for Foundayo. It has no cardiovascular-outcomes indication; the Wegovy pill carries one, but the heart-outcomes trial in its label (Study 1, SELECT) was run with the injection, and the label states that average blood levels on the 25 mg tablet and the 2.4 mg injection were similar.
A choice between the two involves weight goals, other medicines, morning routine, cost and coverage — all things to weigh with a prescriber. Our Foundayo and tirzepatide comparison covers orforglipron against the injections.
Sources
- WEGOVY (semaglutide) injection and tablets, prescribing information, Novo Nordisk, effective 2026-06-18 — DailyMed setid ee06186f-2aa3-4990-a760-757579d8f77b, read 2026-09-24: sections 1, 2, 6.1 (tablet trial), 12.3 and 14 (Table 11).
- FOUNDAYO (orforglipron) tablets, prescribing information, Eli Lilly and Company, NDA 220934, effective 2026-07-29 — DailyMed setid 8ac446c5-feba-474f-a103-23facb9b5c62, read 2026-09-24: sections 1, 2, 3, 6.1, 7, 8.3 and 14 (Table 6).
- Trials: OASIS 4 NCT05564117; ATTAIN-1 NCT05869903; ATTAIN-2 NCT05872620.
- Prices: wegovy.com "What to pay" and foundayo.lilly.com coverage and savings, both read 2026-09-24.