Every GLP-1 pen starts in the refrigerator, and none may ever be frozen. After that the brands part company. A Trulicity pen may spend 14 days out of the fridge in total; an opened Ozempic pen may spend 56. Some labels count a cumulative total, some count from the first injection, and one counts only until the cap comes off. The tablets — Wegovy, Rybelsus and the Ozempic tablets, and Foundayo — are never refrigerated at all.
The table below is built from section 16 of each brand's current US prescribing information, taken from DailyMed as the manufacturer's own version (not a repackager's copy), all read on 3 October 2026.
The storage table
| Product | Before first use | Out of the fridge, maximum | How the clock counts | Room temperature as defined |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ozempic pen (multi-dose) | Refrigerator only | 56 days after first use | From first use | 59–86°F |
| Ozempic single-dose syringe | Refrigerator | 28 days | "If needed" | 46–86°F |
| Wegovy single-dose pen or syringe | Refrigerator | 28 days | Before the cap is removed | 46–86°F |
| Wegovy FlexTouch pen (multi-dose) | Refrigerator only | 56 days after first use | From first use | 59–86°F |
| Zepbound single-dose pen or vial | Refrigerator | 21 days in total | Cumulative | Up to 86°F |
| Zepbound KwikPen or multi-dose vial | Refrigerator; 30 days unopened at room temperature | 30 days | From first use, or 4 doses | Up to 86°F |
| Mounjaro single-dose pen or vial | Refrigerator | 21 days in total | Cumulative | Up to 86°F |
| Mounjaro KwikPen or multi-dose vial | Refrigerator; 30 days unopened at room temperature | 30 days | From first use, or 4 doses | Up to 86°F |
| Trulicity pen | Refrigerator | 14 days in total | Cumulative | Up to 86°F |
| Saxenda pen | Refrigerator only | 30 days after first use | From first use | 59–86°F |
| Victoza pen | Refrigerator only | 30 days after first use | From first use | 59–86°F |
| Wegovy tablets | Room temperature, original bottle | — | — | 68–77°F; excursions 59–86°F |
| Rybelsus / Ozempic tablets | Room temperature, original bottle | — | — | 68–77°F; excursions 59–86°F |
| Foundayo tablets | Room temperature | — | — | 68–77°F; excursions 59–86°F |
"Refrigerator" is 36°F to 46°F (2°C to 8°C) on every label. "Refrigerator only" means the label gives no room-temperature allowance before the first injection. Sources at the foot of the page.
Three different clocks
The single number people search for — "how long can it be out of the fridge" — hides the fact that the labels are not measuring the same thing.
A cumulative total. Zepbound and Mounjaro single-dose pens may be kept unrefrigerated "for up to a total of 21 days"; Trulicity's Instructions for Use say a pen may be kept at room temperature "for up to a total of 14 days". "Total" means the days add up: a pen that spends a week out on a trip and goes back in the fridge has used seven of them.
A window before use. The Wegovy single-dose pen or syringe "can be kept from 8°C to 30°C … up to 28 days" — "prior to the pen or syringe cap removal". Once the cap is off it is used and discarded.
A clock that starts at the first injection. The multi-dose pens — Ozempic, Wegovy FlexTouch, Saxenda, Victoza and the Zepbound and Mounjaro KwikPens — are refrigerated until first use, and then the label allows a fixed number of days from that point, in the fridge or out of it. For the KwikPens a second limit runs alongside: the pen is discarded after its fourth dose, or after 30 days, whichever comes first, "even if there is medicine left in it". How that plays out over a month is on the Zepbound KwikPen page.
So "Ozempic is good for 56 days at room temperature" is true only of a pen already in use. The Ozempic label gives no room-temperature allowance at all for a pen that has not been used yet — before first use it "should be stored in a refrigerator". The Wegovy FlexTouch, Saxenda and Victoza labels read the same way. That is the opposite of the Lilly KwikPens, which allow an unopened pen 30 days at room temperature. (glp1ledger reading of the eight labels side by side.)
The top and bottom of "room temperature"
The ceiling is the same everywhere: 86°F (30°C). No GLP-1 pen label allows storage above it. The floor differs, and the difference is a defined range, not a typo. Novo Nordisk's multi-dose pens define room temperature as 59°F to 86°F (15°C to 30°C). Its single-dose Wegovy pen and the Ozempic syringe allow anything from 46°F to 86°F — that is, any temperature between the fridge and the ceiling. The Lilly labels give only the upper limit.
The same Novo labels add a detail the Lilly labels do not: do not store the pen "directly adjacent to the refrigerator cooling element", which is where a pen is most likely to freeze. Every label then says the same thing about freezing: do not use a pen that has been frozen.
Light, heat and the carton
Each label asks for protection from light and heat, and most say how: keep the pen in its carton. The Zepbound and Mounjaro labels say to "Store … in the original carton to protect from light"; Ozempic and Wegovy injections "must be kept in the original carton until time of administration"; Trulicity's carton storage is "recommended". The multi-dose Novo pens add: keep the cap on, and store the pen without a needle attached — Saxenda's and Victoza's labels give the reason, "to reduce the potential for contamination, infection, and leakage while also ensuring dosing accuracy".
Trulicity's Instructions for Use carry the one physical warning in the set: the pen "has glass parts", and a pen dropped on a hard surface is not used.
The tablets: the opposite rule
The oral products are never refrigerated. Wegovy tablets and the Rybelsus/Ozempic tablets are stored at 68°F to 77°F, with excursions to 59°F–86°F permitted, and kept in the original bottle "to protect tablets from moisture". Foundayo's label gives the same temperature range and says nothing about the bottle. How the pills differ from the pens in other ways is on GLP-1 pill vs injection and oral GLP-1s.
What the labels do not say
None of the labels says what happens to the medicine past the stated limit, how quickly potency falls at a given temperature, or whether a pen left in a hot car for an afternoon is still usable. They give a limit and an instruction to discard after it. Questions about a particular pen belong with a pharmacist or the manufacturer's medical information line; this page reports the labels and does not advise on any pen.
It also covers only the approved, branded products. Compounded semaglutide and tirzepatide come with whatever storage instructions the compounding pharmacy writes, which are not FDA-reviewed — see compounded semaglutide. Research-peptide vials are a different product again; Peptifact's peptide storage page covers them.
Sources
All prescribing information is the manufacturer's current version on DailyMed, read 3 October 2026; section 16.2 (Storage and Handling) unless stated.
- Novo Nordisk, OZEMPIC (semaglutide) injection, set ID adec4fd2-6858-4c99-91d4-531f5f2a2d79, effective 2026-06-01, dailymed.nlm.nih.gov.
- Novo Nordisk, WEGOVY (semaglutide) injection and tablets, set ID ee06186f-2aa3-4990-a760-757579d8f77b, effective 2026-06-18, dailymed.nlm.nih.gov.
- Eli Lilly and Company, ZEPBOUND (tirzepatide) injection, set ID 487cd7e7-434c-4925-99fa-aa80b1cc776b, effective 2026-08-28, dailymed.nlm.nih.gov.
- Eli Lilly and Company, MOUNJARO (tirzepatide) injection, set ID d2d7da5d-ad07-4228-955f-cf7e355c8cc0, effective 2026-08-27, dailymed.nlm.nih.gov.
- Eli Lilly and Company, TRULICITY (dulaglutide) injection, prescribing information and Instructions for Use, set ID 463050bd-2b1c-40f5-b3c3-0a04bb433309, effective 2026-06-16, dailymed.nlm.nih.gov.
- Novo Nordisk, SAXENDA (liraglutide) injection, set ID 3946d389-0926-4f77-a708-0acb8153b143, effective 2026-02-25, dailymed.nlm.nih.gov.
- Novo Nordisk, VICTOZA (liraglutide) injection, set ID 5a9ef4ea-c76a-4d34-a604-27c5b505f5a4, effective 2025-10-14, via open.fda.gov (manufacturer Novo Nordisk).
- Novo Nordisk, RYBELSUS and OZEMPIC (semaglutide) tablets, set ID 27f15fac-7d98-4114-a2ec-92494a91da98, effective 2026-01-30, dailymed.nlm.nih.gov.
- Eli Lilly and Company, FOUNDAYO (orforglipron) tablets, set ID 8ac446c5-feba-474f-a103-23facb9b5c62, effective 2026-07-29, dailymed.nlm.nih.gov.