Wegovy Pill vs Foundayo: Two $149 Starting Doses Compared

Both FDA-approved weight-loss pills start at $149 a month without insurance: the Wegovy pill at 1.5 mg and Foundayo at 0.8 mg ^1,2. Neither starting strength has efficacy data of its own; each is a step toward doses that were tested. The day-to-day difference is the fasting rule. The Wegovy pill needs an empty stomach, and Foundayo doesn't.

For someone who wants the smallest approved dose of a real GLP-1, these two tablets are the closest thing on the market to a printed low dose. They are not the same kind of product, though, and they do not leave you in the same place if your plan is to stay low.

What do the lowest doses cost?

Both manufacturers price these pills by strength, so the bottom of each ladder is the cheapest. Here are the two ladders side by side, as published on October 2, 2026.

Two conditions apply on the Foundayo side. Lilly says the 2.5 mg and 5.5 mg prices are temporarily reduced through December 31, 2026, and the 14.5 mg and 17.2 mg prices assume you refill within 45 days ². A "month" is 30 tablets for both. The federal TrumpRx site lists the same $149 Wegovy pill price ³.

Is a starting dose the same as a microdose?

No, and the labels are explicit about what the bottom strengths are for.

The Wegovy pill label starts you at 1.5 mg for days 1 to 30, then 4 mg for days 31 to 60, 9 mg for days 61 to 90, and 25 mg from day 91. It names one maintenance dose, 25 mg. If you cannot tolerate 25 mg, the label's suggestion is to switch to the 1.7 mg Wegovy injection, not to stay on a lower tablet ⁴.

Foundayo's label works differently. You start at 0.8 mg for at least 30 days, move to 2.5 mg, then 5.5 mg, and after that the dose "may be increased" to 9, 14.5 or 17.2 mg based on how you respond and tolerate it ⁵. In other words, stopping the climb at 5.5 mg is written into the label as an option. The Wegovy pill has no equivalent stopping point below its top dose.

That is the most practical difference between the two for a low-dose reader. On Foundayo, a lower long-term dose that was actually studied, 5.5 mg, is a labeled choice. On the Wegovy pill, any long-term dose below 25 mg is off-label.

How much weight do people lose, and at which doses?

Only some strengths were tested, and the published numbers come from those strengths alone.

• •Wegovy pill. OASIS 4 tested 25 mg once daily against placebo for 64 weeks. Weight fell 13.6% on the pill and 2.2% on placebo ⁶. The 1.5, 4 and 9 mg tablets were not tested as doses in their own right.
• •Foundayo. ATTAIN-1 tested three doses for 72 weeks in adults with obesity. Weight fell 7.5%, 8.4% and 11.2% against 2.1% on placebo ⁷. The trial used an investigational formulation; the label reports those arms as Foundayo 5.5, 9 and 17.2 mg ⁵. The 0.8 and 2.5 mg tablets were not tested for efficacy.

Comparing the two trials head to head would be a mistake. They enrolled different people, ran for different lengths of time and were never designed against each other. What they do show is the shape. The cheapest $149 rung of each ladder sits below every dose with a published result. For Foundayo specifically, the lowest studied dose still produced close to 60% of the top dose's placebo-adjusted loss, a point we work through in what is actually known about microdosing orforglipron.

Pill rules: fasting vs any time

The Wegovy pill is oral semaglutide, and semaglutide is hard to absorb by mouth. The label says to take it once daily on an empty stomach in the morning, with no more than 4 ounces of plain water, and then wait at least 30 minutes before eating, drinking anything else or taking other oral medicines ⁴. The reason is the same absorption problem we describe in why oral semaglutide is so hard to absorb.

Foundayo is a small molecule, not a peptide, and its label says to take it once daily "with or without food" ⁵.

Neither tablet can be split. The Wegovy pill label says not to split, crush, chew or dissolve it, and the Foundayo label says not to break, crush or chew it ^4,5. So there is no way to cut either pill into a smaller dose. The smallest dose is the smallest tablet.

Who prescribes them online?

You need a prescription for either. Sesame Care (our review) prescribes both pills through a separate care subscription, and WeightWatchers lists Foundayo self-pay from the starting dose. Both bill the medication on top of a membership, so the $149 is never the whole monthly cost. The oral GLP-1 comparison lists the telehealth companies that offer a pill, and the cost guide sets brand self-pay against compounded pricing.

People on Medicare are excluded from the self-pay offers. Lilly points them to the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, a CMS program in which eligible Part D beneficiaries pay a $50 copay, and NovoCare tells Medicare patients they may be able to pay $50 a month ^2,8,1.