The most useful fact about branded GLP-1 pricing is that both manufacturers now sell direct, and almost nobody comparing branded against compounded has updated their numbers accordingly.
NovoCare publishes Wegovy tablets at $149 a month, the 0.25 mg and 0.5 mg injections at $199, the 1 mg to 2.4 mg maintenance doses at $349, and the 7.2 mg at $399. LillyDirect publishes Zepbound single-dose vials at $299 for 2.5 mg, $399 for 5 mg and $449 from 7.5 mg upward, with KwikPens across the same range.
Neither charges a membership. Neither requires prior authorisation, because there is no insurer involved. And neither provides any clinical care at all — both dispense against a prescription written elsewhere, which is the limitation that decides whether they are usable for you.
Choosing between them is choosing a molecule
These are not substitutes. Wegovy is semaglutide; Zepbound is tirzepatide, a dual GLP-1/GIP agonist that produced larger average reductions in its trials — roughly 20 to 21% of body weight against about 15%.
So NovoCare is cheaper at every tier, and LillyDirect sells the more effective drug. If cost dominates, or if you want a needle-free option, NovoCare's $149 tablets are the cheapest approved GLP-1 route that exists. If efficacy dominates, Zepbound at $299 to $449 is the approved product with the strongest published results.
Why these two prices matter beyond these two pages
They also reset the branded-versus-compounded comparison. LillyDirect's $299 starting dose sits below Measured's $268-all-in compounded tirzepatide only marginally, and below Eden's $298 outright — for an FDA-approved product carrying the trial evidence compounded versions borrow.
At maintenance the gap reopens: $449 against CoreAge Rx's flat $129. But the received wisdom that branded costs four figures and compounded is the only affordable route is no longer accurate, and anyone choosing on that basis is working from stale information.
The prescription problem
Both channels dispense only. If you already have a prescriber — a primary care physician, an endocrinologist, or a telehealth service willing to write to an outside pharmacy — these are simply the cheapest way to fill it.
If you do not, you need to pair them with a provider that will write one. Sesame matches NovoCare's $149 pill price with a consultation included, which is the closest thing to a one-stop version at manufacturer pricing.
Where a dose sits on the studied ladder
Move the slider to see whether a dose is one the weight-loss trials actually used. Doses below the studied range may still suit you — they simply have no trial result attached.
Standard titration step
Standard schedule: Weeks 1–4
The standard starting dose. Intended to build tolerance, not to produce weight loss.
In the trial programme behind Wegovy, adults reached a 2.4 mg weekly maintenance dose and lost an average of about 15% of body weight over 68 weeks.
Titration schedules are the standard ones for the approved products and are shown for orientation, not as a dosing instruction. Compounded products are not FDA-approved and your prescriber sets your schedule. Never change a dose on the basis of a web page.