Frequently Asked Questions

GLP Watchdog is a register of who is allowed to sell GLP-1 medicines in America, what they actually charge once the billing cycle bites, and when we last checked. We score sellers, set them against each other, explain the drugs in plain English, and build tools — a savings calculator, an insurance checker — for the questions a comparison table cannot answer. It exists because this market is very good at obscuring its own prices.

No — and nothing here creates a doctor-patient relationship. We are not a clinic, a pharmacy, a telehealth company or an insurer. We do not prescribe, dispense or diagnose. Everything on this site is information you take to a licensed clinician, not a substitute for seeing one.

Affiliate commissions. Sign up with a seller after following a link here and that seller may pay us, at no extra cost to you. Being a paying partner can affect where a seller is placed — and it never affects the score, which comes out of the same algorithm for everyone. Our Affiliate Disclosure sets out exactly which surfaces are ordered by payment and which are not.

Six weighted dimensions, applied identically to every seller: what it costs you, whether it works clinically, what using it is like, how it handles safety and compliance, who can actually get it, and what support continues afterwards. The algorithm does not know whether we earn anything from a seller, because it is not given that information. The full weights and sub-factors are published on our Methodology page.

Score and order are decided separately, and only one of them is independent. The scoring algorithm runs against every seller on the same six weighted dimensions whether or not we earn anything from them, and no payment moves a number. Order is a different matter, and here is where: twelve of our ranked boards place partners above non-partners, and so do the seller index at /reviews and the comparison tool. The homepage featured slot is drawn from partners scoring 7.0 or above and then ordered by measured earnings per click rather than by score. Two boards are deliberately exempt — cheapest-semaglutide and cheapest-tirzepatide rank on price alone, because a cheapest list that sold its top spot would be worthless. Every paid relationship carries a Featured Partner badge on the card itself. All of it is set out at /nature-of-reviews, on the Nature of Reviews & Rankings page.

GLP Watchdog is an independent register covering GLP-1 telehealth sellers, compounding pharmacies and weight-loss programs — built because this market gives people very little to go on. Some of the sellers covered here pay us a commission, which is what funds the work; the scoring is settled apart from any of that. The About page tells the fuller story; anything you want to challenge goes to corrections@glpwatchdog.org.

A class of injectables first developed for type 2 diabetes that turned out to produce substantial weight loss. They imitate glucagon-like peptide-1, a gut hormone: the stomach empties more slowly, blood sugar steadies, and appetite falls. Two dominate weight prescribing: semaglutide, sold as Wegovy and Ozempic, and tirzepatide, sold as Zepbound and Mounjaro — though tirzepatide is really a dual GLP-1/GIP agonist rather than a GLP-1 alone.

Semaglutide — Wegovy and Ozempic — acts on one receptor. Tirzepatide, sold as Zepbound and Mounjaro, acts on two, adding GIP. In the trials tirzepatide has taken off more weight, roughly 20% of body weight at the top dose against about 15% for semaglutide, though those come from separate trial programs rather than a head-to-head. Both leave the older weight-loss drugs far behind, and their side-effect profiles look much alike.

It depends almost entirely on which pharmacy made it. It is lawful to compound while the branded product sits on the FDA's shortage list, or where a preparation is mixed for one patient's particular needs. What separates a good vial from a bad one: is the pharmacy 503A- or 503B-registered, does an outside lab test its sterility, and is the API pharmacopoeia-grade. None of it is FDA-approved the way Wegovy is, and quality genuinely varies. Every seller review here names the compounding pharmacies behind it.

Branded, the list prices run from about $1,086 for Zepbound to $1,349 for Wegovy a month — but almost nobody pays those. Novo and Lilly both sell direct: Wegovy is $349 a month standard, or $199 a month across your first two fills as a new patient, and Zepbound starts at $299. Compounded is cheaper still. Across the 481 semaglutide prices in our register the middle figure is about $190 a month; across 435 tirzepatide prices it is about $258. The Price Tracker carries the current spread.

Yes, under specific brand names. Semaglutide is approved for chronic weight management as Wegovy — Ozempic, the same molecule, is approved only for type 2 diabetes. Tirzepatide is approved for weight management as Zepbound, with Mounjaro the diabetes version. Compounded copies of either molecule are not themselves FDA-approved, but may be lawfully dispensed under compounding rules.

Four questions get you most of the way: is it a real GLP-1 they are prescribing, is the pharmacy licensed, what does a full month cost once the introductory period ends, and does a licensed clinician actually review your case. Our Methodology page has the full checklist, and the Best Semaglutide and Best Tirzepatide boards apply it to every seller we track.

Wegovy, Ozempic, Zepbound and Mounjaro come from Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly as FDA-approved products, made under strict manufacturing controls. Compounded semaglutide and tirzepatide are mixed to order by compounding pharmacies, usually far cheaper, and lawful while the branded product is short or when prescribed for an individual's particular needs. The compounded version is not an FDA-approved finished product, and that difference is real.

A prescriber licensed in your state. Either genuine brand supply, or a compounding pharmacy registered under 503A or 503B. Pricing that tells you what month two costs, with no auto-renewal you did not agree to. Room to adjust the dose. A clinician you can actually reach when side effects start. Shipping times in writing, and a cancellation policy you could live with. Walk away from anyone prescribing with no medical intake, or shipping from unverified pharmacies abroad.

The warning signs cluster: no medical intake, a prescription issued in minutes with no clinician anywhere near it, prices far below everyone else, 'research-only' peptides sold for injection, no US pharmacy license named, no company address, and pressure to decide now. Stay with sellers who name their owners, name their pharmacy partners, and employ real clinicians. Every seller ranked here has been checked against exactly that list.

Yes, in all fifty states, provided the clinician is licensed where you are and writes it for a genuine medical reason after a proper evaluation. Compounded GLP-1s are lawful under the FDA's compounding rules. What is not lawful is buying unprescribed 'research' peptides to inject, or getting a prescription with no clinician involved at any point.

Inconsistently. Some commercial plans cover it for patients meeting BMI criteria, almost always behind prior authorization. Medicare historically excluded weight-loss drugs, and that is loosening for cardiovascular indications rather than for weight itself. Medicaid is a state-by-state question. Our Insurance Checker shows typical coverage by insurer and what prior authorization tends to demand.

You have real options. Novo and Lilly both sell direct — NovoCare puts Wegovy at $349 a month, or $199 a month across your first two fills as a new patient, and LillyDirect starts Zepbound at $299. Compounded semaglutide through a licensed telehealth seller sits around $190 a month in the middle of our register, tirzepatide around $258. The Cheapest Semaglutide and Cheapest Tirzepatide boards rank on price alone.

Five levers, roughly in order of size: switch to a compounded version out of a licensed pharmacy; use the manufacturers' own direct-pay programs for branded Wegovy or Zepbound; put a manufacturer savings card against a commercial plan; buy several months at once where a seller discounts it; and pay with FSA or HSA money if you have it. The Savings Calculator runs all five against each other.

Usually, yes. A GLP-1 prescribed by a licensed clinician for weight management is FSA- and HSA-eligible, and most telehealth sellers issue receipts your administrator will accept. Check what documentation your own benefits provider wants for weight-management prescriptions specifically — that is where the requirements differ.

The Compare page is quickest: put any two sellers together and the price, the dose, the pharmacy, the clinician model and the score line up against each other. Or work through the Best Of boards by category, or open any seller's full review.

Because a register that admits everyone tells you nothing. A seller has to clear a baseline — prescribers licensed in the US, a licensed pharmacy partner, pricing we can read, and company details we can verify. Fail those checks, prove impossible to verify independently, or operate somewhere legally gray, and the omission is deliberate. If we have missed a legitimate one, email corrections@glpwatchdog.org.

Every price carries the date we last checked it, and that date is on the page rather than buried. Our own freshness guard fails the build when a brand price goes more than 60 days unverified, and the busiest sellers get looked at far more often than that. Telehealth pricing still moves without warning, so confirm the figure on the seller's own site before you hand over a card.

Email corrections@glpwatchdog.org with 'Provider Correction' in the subject, the URL of the page, and what is wrong with it. If you are writing on behalf of the seller, link the official source — a pricing page, an FAQ, a pharmacy listing. We work through corrections within a few business days, and we publish the ones that changed a page.