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Goal
Fifteen peptides are linked to weight loss online, but only Wegovy, Zepbound and Saxenda are FDA approved for weight management in the United States.
Source: Based on 15 compound guides · checked 2026-08-20
If you want a treatment that is available now, start with those three medicines. In a direct trial, people taking Zepbound lost more weight on average than people taking Wegovy. That does not make it the right choice for everyone.
Retatrutide and several other drugs have promising results but are still experimental in the United States. Others are sold for weight loss even though reliable human results are missing.
Compounds covered
15
With published human dosing
13 of 15
Approved or being tested for this
10
No human evidence for this goal
3
Start with the outcome
There is no single best option for everyone. A treatment that is available by prescription today is different from an experimental drug that produced a result in a trial. Choose the topic that matches what you came to find.
3 US-labeled products
Wegovy, Zepbound and Saxenda are FDA approved for chronic weight management in specific groups. In a direct trial, Zepbound produced more average weight loss than Wegovy. Dosing, side effects, cost and eligibility still differ.
Compare the approved optionsNo US prescribing label
Retatrutide, survodutide, cagrilintide, VK2735, zenagamtide and pemvidutide are still being tested in the United States. Mazdutide has a Chinese approval, but no FDA label.
See the live trial pipelineCompare like with like
Trial averages come from different groups, doses and time periods. Open each result to see who was studied, what they received and how long the study lasted.
See a sourced results timelineTiming from trial check-ins
Trials measure weight at set check-ins. They usually do not report the first day someone noticed a change, so we show the checkpoints researchers actually published.
See the Zepbound timeline without guessesPrice varies by product
Price depends on the brand, prescribed use, insurance plan, savings program and current supply. A strong trial result does not mean a drug is affordable or available.
Compare current cost recordsA separate outcome
A lower number on the scale can reflect both fat and muscle loss. The protein planner helps you work from a daily protein goal set with a clinician or dietitian.
Open the protein plannerThe left column says why people seek each compound. The right says what its label or human research measured. A foreign approval, an unfinished trial and reported use stay separate.
| Compound | What people take it for | What research shows | Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| SemaglutideWegovy, Ozempic, Rybelsus | Prescribed as Wegovy for weight management, and bought compounded when the branded pen is out of reach.FDA-approved for this | The Wegovy label carries a full weekly schedule, from a 0.25 mg starting dose up to 1.7 mg or 2.4 mg. Ozempic and Rybelsus are separate semaglutide products with different approved uses. | FDA labelDose from the FDA-approved label |
| TirzepatideZepbound, Mounjaro | Prescribed as Zepbound for weight management, and the compound most often bought as a compounded vial.FDA-approved for this | The label starts at a 2.5 mg weekly dose that is not meant to treat anything, then steps up by 2.5 mg no faster than every four weeks. FDA declared its shortage over in late 2024, which is what narrowed the compounding lane. | FDA labelDose from the FDA-approved label |
| LiraglutideVictoza, Saxenda | Prescribed as Saxenda for chronic weight management, while the same molecule is also sold as the separate diabetes product Victoza.FDA-approved for this | Saxenda starts at 0.6 mg once daily and steps weekly to 3 mg daily. Victoza has a different use and stops lower. Keep the product name with the schedule. | FDA labelDose from FDA-approved product labels |
| Retatrutide | Bought ahead of approval on its phase 2 numbers, usually as a research vial with no label behind it.Being tested for this in trials | Its 48-week phase 2 trial ran 1, 4, 8 and 12 mg weekly arms, reached by stepping up. The 12 mg arm produced the largest weight change in the program. It has no approved label and no approved dose. | Human trialDose from a human trial · no FDA label |
| Survodutide | Bought on the strength of its published phase 2 result, well ahead of any approval.Being tested for this in trials | Over 46 weeks, weekly doses of 0.6 to 4.8 mg produced mean weight change of −6.2% to −14.9%, against −2.8% on placebo. It is in phase 3. Nothing about that program sets a dose anyone may use. | Human trialDose from a human trial · no FDA label |
| Cagrilintide | Bought mostly to pair with semaglutide, copying the combination a company is testing.Being tested for this in trials | Its phase 2 trial ran weekly doses from 0.3 mg to 4.5 mg. The 2.4 mg dose went into phase 3 together with semaglutide 2.4 mg. The pairing people copy is a formulated product, not two vials mixed at home. | Human trialDose from a human trial · no FDA label |
| Mazdutide | Prescribed as Xinermei for weight management in China and sought in the United States as a newer GLP-1/glucagon trial drug.Approved outside the U.S. | China approved mazdutide for weight in 2025; FDA has not. A 48-week trial reported mean changes of −11.0% and −14.01% for 4 mg and 6 mg, versus +0.3% with placebo. | Human trialDose from a human trial · no FDA label |
| VK2735 | Sought as an experimental weekly injection or separate tablet while its phase 3 weight-management program is still running.Being tested for this in trials | A 13-week phase 2 injection trial reported average weight changes from −9.1% to −14.7% across four dose groups, versus −1.7% with placebo. The phase 3 trials have no results yet. | Human trialDose from a human trial · no FDA label |
| Zenagamtide | Followed under its current name and its former name, Amycretin, as an experimental injection and oral weight-loss program.Being tested for this in trials | An early injection trial reported 24.3% average weight loss in the 60 mg group at week 36, versus 1.1% with placebo. Its registered phase 3 studies have no results yet. | Human trialDose from a human trial · no FDA label |
| Pemvidutide | Sought as an experimental weekly GLP-1/glucagon injection on the strength of its obesity and liver-disease programs.Being tested for this in trials | The sponsor reported average weight changes from −10.3% to −15.6% across three groups at week 48, versus −2.2% with placebo. Pemvidutide is not FDA-approved. | Human trialDose from a human trial · no FDA label |
| TesamorelinEgrifta SV, Egrifta WR | Bought off-label for belly fat, on the back of its approval for a much narrower group.Measured in a human study | It is approved for one thing: excess abdominal fat in adults with HIV-related lipodystrophy. Its own label says the drug is not approved for weight loss, and calls the effect on body weight neutral. Few labels contradict their off-label use this directly. | FDA labelDose from the FDA-approved label |
| AOD-9604 | Sold for fat loss, on the idea that this fragment of growth hormone carries the fat-mobilizing part alone.Measured in a human study | That idea was tested and it did not hold. An Australian company ran controlled human obesity trials; the larger ones did not separate it from placebo, and development stopped. The 10 mg group lost less than the 1 mg group. Every trial dose was swallowed, not injected, and the primary trial reports were never published. | limited human dataDose reported in the literature only |
| MOTS-c | Sold for fat loss and metabolic aging, on the observation that natural blood levels fall as people get older.Reported use only | The metabolic results are mouse experiments, injected into the abdomen. Levels do fall with age in people. Falling with age is not the same as helping when topped up, and nobody has tested the second thing. No trial has published a dose for a person. | no human dose shown to workNo human dose published |
| Ipamorelin | Offered by clinics for fat loss, as one item on the list of things people expect of growth hormone.Reported use only | Its two completed trials tested how quickly the gut restarted after bowel surgery, and neither beat placebo. No trial has measured fat. The growth-hormone pulse it produces is real and measured; what follows from the pulse is the part nobody has shown. | Human trialDose from a human trial · no FDA label |
| CJC-1295 | Sold for fat loss on the same wishlist as ipamorelin, and usually stacked with it.Reported use only | The human studies measured one thing, growth hormone in the blood. None reported fat, weight or body composition. Most material sold under this name is the short-acting molecule, which was never in those studies at all. | limited human dataDose from a human trial · no FDA label |
The approved group can be prescribed for weight in the United States. The trial group has results but no US label. A positive trial does not create a product or predict one person’s result.
AOD-9604 shows why failed trials belong here. It entered controlled obesity studies, including one with 536 people over 24 weeks. It did not beat placebo. Development stopped, yet it is still sold for fat loss.
Rows based only on reported practice have the opposite gap: a hormone or metabolic marker may change, but no human weight result follows. A plausible mechanism is not proof of weight loss.
A group average cannot say when one person will notice a change. It also cannot show how much of their loss will be fat or lean tissue. Those questions need their own data.
MOTS-c, ipamorelin and CJC-1295 have no published human weight-loss result. The quantities circulating for those uses come from animal work or practice, not a study that measured weight in people.