Six tablets hold a US label for weight management, and they are not interchangeable. They span a stimulant, two combinations, an oral fat-blocker, and two oral GLP-1 products whose labels were revised in 2026. This page is a dated register of those labels: what each one is approved for, the trial result its label prints, and where the full page is. It ranks nothing.
The register was read against the labels and the makers' own pages on 9 November 2026. Where a figure is quoted, the page it comes from is linked and dated.
The register
| Product | Molecule | Approved (per the label or Drugs@FDA) | Label indication | Trial figure the label prints (population, length) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phentermine (generic, Adipex-P, Lomaira) | Phentermine | Adipex-P ANDA 085128, 22 October 1980 | Short-term ("a few weeks") adjunct | 46.2% lost at least 5% of body weight on 15 mg vs 15.5% on placebo (28-week trial, cited on the page) |
| Qsymia | Phentermine with extended-release topiramate | NDA 022580, 17 July 2012 | Long-term, adults and children 12+ | −10.9% vs −1.6% on placebo, 15 mg/92 mg, one year (EQUIP) |
| Contrave | Naltrexone with bupropion | NDA 200063, 10 September 2014 | Long-term, adults | −5.4% vs −1.3% on placebo, 56 weeks (COR-I) |
| Xenical 120 mg (prescription) and Alli 60 mg (over the counter) | Orlistat | Xenical 23 April 1999; Alli 7 February 2007 | Long-term, adults (Xenical); the only OTC weight drug (Alli) | −5.17% vs −2.75% on placebo, 4 years (XENDOS, 3,304 adults) |
| Wegovy tablet | Oral semaglutide 25 mg | Label effective 18 June 2026 | Long-term, adults with obesity or overweight | −13.6% vs −2.4% on placebo, 64 weeks (307 adults without diabetes, Study 7 / OASIS 4) |
| Foundayo | Orforglipron | Label effective 29 July 2026 | Long-term, adults | −11.1% vs −2.1% on placebo, 72 weeks (ATTAIN-1, 3,127 adults without diabetes) |
Read the last column as a label's own report, not a comparison. Each row answers a different population, length and endpoint. The Wegovy and Foundayo tablets are described in their own label trials, and no trial has compared them head-to-head; the comparison page explains the reasons the figures do not settle a choice.
What the register does not contain
- Pills approved for other conditions and used off-label for weight. Bupropion, topiramate and naltrexone are not on the list; the record of topiramate's weight effect outside Qsymia shows why. Their weight effects appear in their own labels for other conditions, and those are covered on their own pages where we have built them. Their presence on this page would imply a weight indication they do not hold.
- Supplements. Products sold as "weight-loss pills" are not FDA-approved drugs, and the FDA does not review dietary supplements for effectiveness before they are sold. The category is covered on glp-1 supplements, and the most-trialled fibre in it on glucomannan, where the GLP-1 claims made on the packaging are read against the census of FDA listings.
- Injections. Every GLP-1 injection, and the lipotropic shots sold in clinics, are outside this register; they are listed with their FDA status on the weight-loss injections register, and how the pens work is on injections explained.
Why the oral products need a separate reading
Two of the six are peptides absorbed through the gut, which absorbs very little of a swallowed dose. The Wegovy and Ozempic tablet labels state that their absolute bioavailability is between 0.4% and 2%, so the milligram strength on the bottle is not the amount that reaches the blood. The Foundayo label gives about 77% absolute bioavailability at its lowest dose. That is a formulation fact, and it is why the two oral products cannot be read as the same drug in a different shape. The arithmetic is on oral GLP-1.
How to read the register
- The indication comes before the figure. Phentermine's label limits it to a few weeks. Qsymia and Contrave are long-term labels; Qsymia's pregnancy restriction and Contrave's seizure warning are set out on their individual pages.
- Compare only within a trial design. A placebo-adjusted figure from a 28-week trial and one from a 72-week trial measure different things.
- Check who stopped. Dropout is printed in the labels and in the pages linked above. On Contrave, almost half of each group withdrew before week 56.
- Price is not in the label. The prices quoted on the linked pages are the makers' own posted prices, read on the day stated there. Pharmacy acquisition costs from NADAC are reported on the individual pages.
This register does not say which pill is right for anyone. The labels say who each product is for, and the warnings in them name the people for whom a drug is not suitable; those are the questions to take to a clinician.