Foundayo vs Mounjaro: Pill Against Dual Agonist
Foundayo (orforglipron, Eli Lilly) vs Mounjaro (tirzepatide, Eli Lilly)
Last verified May 2026
The verdict
ATTAIN-1 put Foundayo at -11.1% over 72 weeks in obesity. SURPASS-2 put Mounjaro at -11.2 kg over 40 weeks in diabetes, and the identical molecule sold as Zepbound reached -20.9% in SURMOUNT-1. ⚠ Three trials, three populations — read them as context rather than a ranking. Commercially: Mounjaro lists near $1,069 with no cash-pay tier, and Foundayo's direct-pay pricing is still arriving.
Side-by-side comparison
| Field | Foundayo | Mounjaro |
|---|---|---|
| How you take it | A pill, once a day, with or without food | An injection under the skin, once a week |
| How it works | A small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist — not a peptide, which is why it survives the stomach | Hits two receptors, GIP and GLP-1, rather than one |
| The dose ladder | Six daily steps: 0.8, 2.5, 5.5, 9, 14.5, then 17.2 mg | Six weekly steps: 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, then 15 mg |
| Weight lost in the pivotal trial | -11.1% over 72 weeks at 17.2 mg, in obesity (ATTAIN-1) | -11.2 kg over 40 weeks at 15 mg, in diabetes (SURPASS-2). The same molecule sold as Zepbound reached -20.9% in SURMOUNT-1 |
| Blood-sugar reduction in diabetes | -1.3% to -1.6% over 40 weeks at 17.2 mg (ACHIEVE-1) | -2.30% over 40 weeks at 15 mg, measured directly against semaglutide (SURPASS-2) |
| What it is approved to treat | Long-term weight management, from April 2026. A diabetes filing is still with the FDA | Type 2 diabetes only. For weight, the same molecule is sold as Zepbound |
| Whether a trial proved it prevents heart attacks and strokes | No trial has reported. One is planned | SURPASS-CVOT is running and does not report until 2027 |
| What it costs if you pay cash | Launching through 2026; the direct-pay tier has not landed yet | About $1,069/mo list, with no cash-pay program — the savings card needs commercial insurance and a diabetes diagnosis |
What each one costs in the compounded market
Standing monthly cash prices from the 556 sellers on this register. These are compounded preparations, not the approved products compared above.
Foundayo — orforglipron
from $149 /mo
2 sellers publish a standing price; the median is $149 a month.
Mounjaro — tirzepatide
from $99 /mo
253 sellers publish a standing price; the median is $240 a month.
⚠ A compounded preparation is not the approved product. No agency has reviewed that specific preparation for safety, effectiveness or manufacturing quality, and the legal ground under compounding these molecules narrowed when the shortages closed. The price gap is real, and so is the difference in oversight. Every seller, with its price record.
Frequently asked questions
Are Foundayo and Mounjaro the same drug?
No. Foundayo is orforglipron and Mounjaro is tirzepatide — different molecules. Results with one do not predict results with the other.
Is Foundayo or Mounjaro cheaper?
On the manufacturers' own cash pricing: Foundayo at Launching through 2026; the direct-pay tier has not landed yet, Mounjaro at About $1,069/mo list, with no cash-pay program — the savings card needs commercial insurance and a diabetes diagnosis. ⚠ That is the list-price comparison, and it is not what most people pay. What you actually pay depends on whether your plan covers it, which formulary tier it sits in, and whether you have met your deductible — and for many people the honest comparison is between an insured copay and a cash-pay compounded alternative rather than between these two figures.
What does a compounded version of each actually cost?
Across the 556 sellers in this register, the cheapest standing monthly cash prices we hold are orforglipron from $149 a month and tirzepatide from $99 a month. ⛔ A compounded preparation is not the approved product: no agency has reviewed that specific preparation for safety, effectiveness or manufacturing quality, and the legal ground under compounding these molecules narrowed once the shortages closed. The price gap is real and so is the difference in oversight.
Can I switch from Foundayo to Mounjaro?
Yes, with a prescriber. Expect to re-titrate from the bottom of the new drug's ladder rather than starting where you left off: these are different molecules and tolerance to one does not transfer to the other. Both the old drug's washout and the new drug's schedule apply.
Which one should I ask for?
That is a prescriber's call, and anyone answering it from a table is guessing. What a page like this can do is tell you what the trials measured, what the manufacturers charge, and where the evidence is still missing, so the conversation starts from the record rather than from an advertisement.
References
- 1.Wharton S, Aronne LJ, Stefanski A, et al. Orforglipron, an Oral Small-Molecule GLP-1 Receptor Agonist for Obesity Treatment (ATTAIN-1). N Engl J Med. 2025. PMID: 40960239.
- 2.Rosenstock J, Hsia S, Nevarez Ruiz L, et al. Orforglipron, an Oral Small-Molecule GLP-1 Receptor Agonist, in Early Type 2 Diabetes (ACHIEVE-1). N Engl J Med. 2025. PMID: 40544435.
- 3.Frías JP, Davies MJ, Rosenstock J, Pérez Manghi FC, Fernández Landó L, et al. Tirzepatide versus Semaglutide Once Weekly in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes (SURPASS-2). N Engl J Med. 2021. PMID: 34170647.
- 4.Eli Lilly and Company. MOUNJARO (tirzepatide) injection — FDA prescribing information. DailyMed (NIH/NLM). 2026. https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=d2d7da5d-ad07-4228-955f-cf7e355c8cc0
- 5.Eli Lilly and Company. FOUNDAYO (orforglipron) tablets — FDA prescribing information. DailyMed (NIH/NLM). 2026. https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=8ac446c5-feba-474f-a103-23facb9b5c62
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