Key Takeaways
- Ozempic and compounded semaglutide share one active ingredient, semaglutide, which works like a hormone your body already makes after meals.
- Semaglutide may help you feel fuller and less hungry, and less hunger can make weight loss feel more manageable.
- Ozempic is a branded injection from Novo Nordisk. Compounded semaglutide is prepared by a licensed pharmacy for one patient's prescription.
- LIV offers both. Your provider reviews your health history and required labs, then helps you choose.
- Before each refill, your provider reviews your progress and adjusts your plan as needed.
Hunger can make even a well-planned week hard to stick with, and you're far from alone in that. When US adults with obesity were surveyed, 49% said controlling hunger was a barrier to starting a weight-loss effort. Semaglutide works on the signals behind that hunger, and Ozempic and compounded semaglutide both contain it. Choosing between them comes down to the product that fits you.
How Can Semaglutide Help With Hunger?
After you eat, your gut releases a hormone called GLP-1. Semaglutide is built to resemble it, with 94 percent sequence homology to human GLP-1, close enough to act on the same receptor.
The part most people notice is appetite. In a study of adults with obesity, semaglutide injections reduced hunger and food cravings and helped people feel fuller after meals. Less hunger can make eating less feel more manageable.
What Weight Progress Can Look Like
A large real-world study followed adults taking Ozempic. Those still on treatment lost an average of 3.6% of their starting weight at 3 months, 5.8% at 6 months and 8.3% at 12 months. Everyone's pace is different, so your provider looks at your progress with you before each refill.
Is Compounded Semaglutide the Same as Ozempic?
They contain the same active ingredient, and they're different products.
Ozempic: A semaglutide injection from Novo Nordisk, FDA-approved for adults with type 2 diabetes, with its own prescribing information.
Compounded semaglutide: Semaglutide prepared by a licensed compounding pharmacy for one patient's prescription, at the strength that prescription calls for.
LIV offers both. Your provider reviews which option suits your history and goals, and your prescription names the exact medicine you're using and how to use it.
How Do They Compare?
| Ozempic | Compounded semaglutide | |
|---|---|---|
| Active ingredient | Semaglutide | Semaglutide |
| Who makes it | Novo Nordisk | A licensed compounding pharmacy, for one patient's prescription |
| FDA review | FDA-approved, with its own prescribing information | Not FDA-approved, so it has no prescribing information of its own† |
| Approved uses | Adults with type 2 diabetes | None, because there is no label to carry any† |
| Strength | Fixed doses listed on its label | Made to your prescription, with the strength printed on your vial |
| How you get it | Prescription, after a provider reviews your history and labs | Prescription, after a provider reviews your history and labs |
| Offered by LIV | Yes | Yes |
Same medicine, two kinds of product. Your provider helps you weigh which one fits your plan.
GETTING STARTED
One evaluation, two options.
- Evaluation Your health history, medicines and required labs
- Your provider's recommendation Ozempic or compounded semaglutide, whichever fits you
- Refill check-ins Progress reviewed before each refill, plan adjusted as needed
Your provider prescribes only if semaglutide is a good fit for you.
Same medicine, chosen around you.
Side Effects and Safety Notes
The most common side effects listed on the Ozempic label are stomach-related: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain and constipation.
Whichever form you choose, semaglutide isn't right for everyone. Your provider will ask about:
- Thyroid history: a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer or MEN 2.
- Past conditions: pancreatitis, gallbladder disease or kidney problems.
- Other medicines: especially diabetes medicines that can lower blood sugar.
- Allergies: any serious allergic reaction to a medicine.
Let your provider know promptly about severe or lasting stomach pain or ongoing vomiting.
Which Should You Choose?
That's a decision you make with your provider, and it starts with you: your health history, the medicines you take, your required labs and what you want help with. Because LIV offers both, your provider can recommend the one that fits rather than the only one available.
Questions to Bring
- Fit: which option suits my history and goals, and why?
- Dosing: how will my dose be set, and how will it change over time?
- Progress: how will we know it's working, and what would change my plan?
If you're wondering how dosing schedules work, the semaglutide dosing page walks through them.
Support as Your Plan Continues
Before each refill, you tell LIV how you're doing, and your provider reviews your progress and adjusts your plan as needed. You'll also have a check-in every three months. Bring up changes in appetite, any side effects and anything that's hard about the routine.
When you're ready to talk through your options, the next step is an evaluation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is compounded semaglutide the same drug as Ozempic?
They share the same active ingredient, but they're different products. Ozempic is FDA-approved, with its own prescribing information. A compounded preparation is made by a licensed pharmacy for one patient's prescription, and compounded medicines aren't FDA-approved, and the FDA doesn't review their safety, effectiveness or quality before they're marketed. Approval belongs to a product rather than to an ingredient, so a compounded preparation has no approved label or approved uses of its own.
Is compounded semaglutide a generic Ozempic?
No. A generic is approved through its own abbreviated application showing it matches a reference product, and a compounded preparation isn't approved at all. LIV offers Ozempic itself and a compounded semaglutide prescription, and your provider helps you decide which suits you.
Is Ozempic approved for weight loss?
Ozempic's approved uses are for adults with type 2 diabetes: blood sugar control alongside diet and exercise, and lowering certain heart and kidney risks. Prescribing it for weight management is off-label. Your provider considers your goals, history and lab results before recommending treatment.
What did studies of semaglutide find?
Adults living with obesity who took semaglutide 2.4 mg reported less hunger, fewer cravings and more fullness than with placebo. In a 68-week trial of adults without diabetes who were overweight or living with obesity, those taking semaglutide 2.4 mg alongside diet and activity counseling lost an average of 14.9% of their starting weight, compared with 2.4% on placebo. Neither study tested a compounded preparation or Ozempic's dosing, and results vary from person to person.
Where do the weight-loss figures come from?
They come from a real-world observational study of 18,386 matched adults taking Ozempic (semaglutide) or tirzepatide (Rodriguez et al., JAMA Internal Medicine, 2024), and 52% of them had type 2 diabetes. The figures describe people still on treatment. Each timepoint is its own estimate, so they shouldn't be added together. Ozempic's use for weight management is off-label, the results concern the approved injection rather than a compounded preparation, and individual results vary. Doses weren't verified, more than half of people stopped treatment during follow-up (52.5% of those on semaglutide and 55.9% on tirzepatide), and missing weights were estimated statistically.
What does the boxed warning on Ozempic say?
The Ozempic label carries a boxed warning about thyroid C-cell tumors. Semaglutide caused these tumors in rodents, and it isn't known whether it does in people. Ozempic isn't for anyone with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer or MEN 2, or a serious allergy to semaglutide.
The label asks people to report a lump in the neck, trouble swallowing, shortness of breath or hoarseness that doesn't go away. In its trials, nausea was reported by 15.8% to 20.3% of people on Ozempic, compared with 6.1% on placebo. Your provider asks about the same thyroid history whichever form you choose. The label also notes that routine blood tests (calcitonin) or thyroid ultrasound are of uncertain value for catching these tumors early.
Which one is safer?
No published study compares a compounded preparation with Ozempic directly. What differs is review: Ozempic has FDA-approved labeling, and a compounded preparation doesn't. Your provider weighs your history and goals and helps you choose the option that fits.
Will my prescription tell me how much to take?
Yes. Your provider sets your dose, and your prescription comes with instructions. A compounded vial's strength is set by the pharmacy, so always go by the label on your own vial and ask your provider or pharmacist about anything that's unclear.
References
Friedrichsen, M., Breitschaft, A., Tadayon, S., Wizert, A., & Skovgaard, D. (2021). The effect of semaglutide 2.4 mg once weekly on energy intake, appetite, control of eating, and gastric emptying in adults with obesity. Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, 23(3), 754-762. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33269530/
Kaplan, L. M., Golden, A., Jinnett, K., Kolotkin, R. L., Kyle, T. K., Look, M., et al. (2018). Perceptions of barriers to effective obesity care: Results from the National ACTION Study. Obesity, 26(1), 61-69. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29086529/
Novo Nordisk Pharmaceutical Industries, LP. (2026). Ozempic (semaglutide) injection, for subcutaneous use: Prescribing information (revised 5/2026). DailyMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine. Read 2026-08-20. https://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/drugInfo.cfm?setid=adec4fd2-6858-4c99-91d4-531f5f2a2d79
Rodriguez, P. J., Goodwin Cartwright, B. M., Gratzl, S., et al. (2024). Semaglutide vs tirzepatide for weight loss in adults with overweight or obesity. JAMA Internal Medicine, 184(9), 1056-1064. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2821080
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2026). Compounding and the FDA: Questions and answers. Read 2026-08-20. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/human-drug-compounding/compounding-and-fda-questions-and-answers
Wilding, J. P. H., Batterham, R. L., Calanna, S., Davies, M., Van Gaal, L. F., Lingvay, I., et al. (2021). Once-weekly semaglutide in adults with overweight or obesity. New England Journal of Medicine, 384(11), 989-1002. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33567185/
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