GLP-1 Generic and Brand Names: Semaglutide, Tirzepatide, Liraglutide

Ozempic’s generic name is semaglutide, the same active ingredient as in Wegovy and Rybelsus^[4,5,6]. Mounjaro and Zepbound are both tirzepatide, and Victoza and Saxenda are both liraglutide^[8,9,10,11]. As of September 24, 2026, the FDA hasn’t approved a generic of semaglutide or tirzepatide^[21]. Liraglutide is different: FDA-approved generics of Victoza have existed since December 2024, and of Saxenda since August 2025^[25,26].

I checked every status on this page in Drugs@FDA, the FDA’s Orange Book, the US labels on DailyMed and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) records on September 24, 2026. Label facts have a dotted underline and the date I checked them. For how these drugs work, see what GLP-1 medications are.

GLP-1 generic and brand names at a glance

The generic name is the name of the active ingredient. The brand name is the name the company sells it under. One ingredient can have several brands, usually for different uses, doses or forms.

Sources: Drugs@FDA records and US labels (section 1)^{[33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42]} linked in the sources below; the EMA’s medicines data^[43] and list of applications under evaluation^[49].

A few names the table can’t hold:

• Kayshild is Novo Nordisk’s EU brand of semaglutide for MASH, a liver disease. The EU authorized it on March 26, 2026^[44]. In the US, the same use sits under Wegovy^[34].
• Combination products hide a GLP-1 behind a different name. Xultophy is insulin degludec plus liraglutide^[19]. Soliqua (Suliqua in the EU) is insulin glargine plus lixisenatide^[20,43]. In the EU, Kyinsu combines insulin icodec and semaglutide^[43].
• Lixisenatide (Adlyxin). Drugs@FDA still lists Adlyxin, approved in 2016, as a prescription product^[18]. I couldn’t confirm from the FDA or Sanofi that it’s sold in the US today, so it’s not in the table. In the EU, its twin Lyxumia had its authorization withdrawn on December 18, 2025^[47].

Each brand was tested in its own trials, at its own doses. The trials behind Wegovy (STEP 1), Zepbound (SURMOUNT-1), Saxenda (SCALE and SCALE Maintenance)^[51] and Foundayo (ATTAIN-1) have plain-language summaries in our studies section, and you can compare their results in the trial results chart. Wegovy and Saxenda were also compared head to head in STEP 8: at 68 weeks, weight changed by −15.8% on semaglutide and −6.4% on liraglutide^[52].

How GLP-1 names are built

Generic names aren’t made up by each company. The World Health Organization assigns an International Nonproprietary Name (INN) to each active ingredient. In the WHO’s words, each INN is “globally recognized and is public property”, and a nonproprietary name “is also known as a generic name”^[1].

INNs share endings, called stems, that group molecules by type. The GLP-1 family uses several:

Sources: the WHO 2024 stem book^[2] and its 2026 addendum^[3].

So the ending tells you something. “-glutide” means a GLP analog. “-patide” flags a GIP agonist, which is why tirzepatide is called a dual agonist. “-glipron” marks the new pills that aren’t peptides at all. Brand names carry no such rule: “Zepbound” and “Mounjaro” tell you nothing about what’s inside.

Is there a generic Ozempic or Mounjaro?

Not in the US. In the FDA’s Orange Book, every semaglutide and tirzepatide product listed is one of the brand applications from Novo Nordisk or Eli Lilly. None is a generic (an abbreviated new drug application, or ANDA).

The closest thing is an application from Apotex for semaglutide injection, in three strengths that match Ozempic’s multi-dose pens. The FDA granted it a tentative approval on April 7, 2026^[21]. The Drugs@FDA glossary explains what that means: the product is ready for approval, but patents or exclusivities on the brand still apply, and “a tentative approval does not allow the applicant to market the generic drug product.”^[22]

The Orange Book also lists the patents the brands rely on. The key one covering the semaglutide substance in Ozempic expires on December 5, 2031^[23]. For tirzepatide in Mounjaro, it’s May 13, 2036^[24]. These are patent dates, not launch dates. The Orange Book doesn’t predict when a generic will reach pharmacies, and neither will I.

Outside the US, the picture differs. The semaglutide patent expired in India in March 2026, and at least five Indian drugmakers launched generic versions that same weekend, CNBC reported^[50]. In the EU, the EMA’s September 2026 list shows three semaglutide applications flagged as “generic, hybrid or biosimilar” under evaluation: two for type 2 diabetes and one for weight management. None has an EU decision yet^[49].

Prices depend on the brand, not just the molecule. The monthly cost calculator shows the list price per brand.

Liraglutide and exenatide: the GLP-1s that do have generics

The FDA approved the first generic of Victoza on December 23, 2024^[25], and the first generic of Saxenda on August 27, 2025^[26]. Drugs@FDA now lists generic liraglutide from several companies. Each carries an “AP” code, meaning the FDA rates it therapeutically equivalent to Victoza or Saxenda^[10,11].

Generic exenatide, referencing Byetta, was approved on November 19, 2024, also with an AP rating^[17]. Drugs@FDA lists Byetta’s original application as discontinued, although a second Byetta record from 2009 still shows as a prescription product^[14]. Bydureon and Bydureon BCise are both listed as discontinued^[15,16].

An FDA-approved generic has the same active ingredient, strength, dosage form and route as the brand, and must be bioequivalent to it. According to the FDA, approved generics “work in the same way and provide the same clinical benefit and risks” as the brand^[27].

In the EU, two liraglutide copies were authorized EU-wide on July 15, 2026: Liraglutide STADA, with Victoza as reference, and Ablymico, with Saxenda. The EMA calls them hybrid medicines: same active substance, but made by a different process than the originals, which use living cells^[45,46].

Why compounded semaglutide isn’t a generic

This is the most common mix-up. A compounded drug is prepared by a pharmacy, and the FDA draws the line clearly: a generic “is approved by FDA” under the generic-drug section of the law, “while a compounded drug is not approved by FDA.” The agency doesn’t verify the safety, effectiveness or quality of compounded drugs before they’re sold^[28].

Compounders get more leeway while a drug is on the FDA’s shortage list, and both semaglutide and tirzepatide were on it from 2022^[29]. The FDA declared the tirzepatide shortage resolved on December 19, 2024, and the semaglutide shortage on February 21, 2025. Once a shortage ends, the FDA generally considers the drug commercially available, and federal law restricts compounding “essentially copies” of it^[29].

The FDA has received reports of adverse events with these products. As of May 31, 2026, there were 990 for compounded semaglutide and more than 730 for compounded tirzepatide. The FDA also notes reports, some requiring hospitalization, that may be related to dosing errors with compounded semaglutide injections^[30]. More in the glossary entries for compounded drug and falsified medicine.

Why “biosimilar” doesn’t apply to semaglutide or tirzepatide

You’ll sometimes see “biosimilar semaglutide” in ads. The term doesn’t fit. A biosimilar is a copy of a biologic, a medicine from living sources that “cannot be exactly copied.”^[31]

In the US, size is part of the dividing line. The FDA defines a protein as an amino acid chain “greater than 40 amino acids in size”, and on March 23, 2020, products that met the definition of a biologic moved from drug applications to biologics licenses^[32]. The simplest way to tell which word applies is the approval route in Drugs@FDA:

• Drugs (new drug application, NDA): Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus, Mounjaro, Zepbound, Victoza, Saxenda, Foundayo^{[4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,13]}. Copies of these go through the generic route (ANDA), as the approved liraglutide generics and the tentatively approved semaglutide did^[10,11,21].
• Biologics (biologics license application, BLA): Trulicity, whose dulaglutide the label describes as a fusion protein^[12,40], and Adlyxin, which was deemed a BLA on March 23, 2020^[18]. A copy of these would be a biosimilar.

The EMA’s list of applications under evaluation classes the pending semaglutide copies as “Chemicals”, not “Biologicals”^[49]. See the glossary for generic drug and biosimilar.

How to read the name on a label

US prescription labels put the brand first and the generic name in parentheses: “OZEMPIC (semaglutide) injection”^[33]. Three things are worth knowing:

• Same ingredient, different brand. Some labels warn about exactly this. Zepbound’s says it contains tirzepatide and that coadministration with other tirzepatide-containing products or with any glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist is not recommended^[37]. Wegovy’s label says the same for other semaglutide products^[34].
• Same ingredient, not interchangeable. Rybelsus and Ozempic tablets are both semaglutide, but their shared label says they are not substitutable on a mg-to-mg basis^[35]. A matching generic name doesn’t mean matching doses.
• A bare “semaglutide” or “tirzepatide” label. As of September 2026, no approved generic of either is on the US market^[21,22]. A product labeled only with the generic name isn’t an FDA-approved generic: it’s compounded or unapproved.

If you’re unsure what’s in a pen or bottle, your pharmacist can check the brand, the active ingredient and whether it’s FDA-approved. Which product and dose suits you is a question for your prescriber.

Frequently asked questions

Is Wegovy generic Ozempic?

No. Both are brands of semaglutide made by Novo Nordisk, approved under separate applications for different uses: Ozempic for adults with type 2 diabetes^[33], and Wegovy for weight management, among other uses^[34]. A generic is a copy made by another company after FDA review^[27]. Neither brand has one in the US^[21].

Is there a generic Mounjaro or Zepbound?

No. The Orange Book lists no generic tirzepatide, and no tentative approval appears in Drugs@FDA either. The tirzepatide substance patent listed for Mounjaro runs to May 13, 2036^[24]. Zepbound is the same molecule as Mounjaro, sold for weight management and sleep apnea^[37].

Is compounded semaglutide the same as Ozempic?

Not in regulatory terms. It may use the same molecule name, but the FDA doesn’t approve compounded drugs or review their quality before sale, and a generic has to pass that review^[28]. The FDA has logged 990 adverse event reports for compounded semaglutide as of May 31, 2026^[30].

Is Rybelsus the generic of Ozempic?

No. Rybelsus is Novo Nordisk’s own semaglutide tablet for type 2 diabetes, approved in 2019^[5,35]. It’s a different brand and form of the same molecule, not a generic.

What is the generic name for Saxenda and Victoza?

Liraglutide. Both have FDA-approved generics, rated therapeutically equivalent to each brand^[10,11].

When will generic Ozempic be available in the US?

I don’t know, and nobody can say for sure from public records. What they show is a semaglutide substance patent listed until December 5, 2031^[23], and one generic with tentative approval, which can’t be sold until patent and exclusivity issues are resolved^[21,22]. I’ll update this page when the FDA’s records change.