Is there a tirzepatide pill? what’s approved and what isn’t

There is no FDA-approved tirzepatide pill. As of October 27, 2026, tirzepatide is approved only as a weekly injection, sold as Zepbound for weight loss and Mounjaro for type 2 diabetes, and Lilly’s approved weight-loss pill is Foundayo (orforglipron), a different drug.

The “tirzepatide tablets,” capsules and sublingual drops sold online are compounded. A compounding pharmacy prepares them, they aren’t FDA-approved, and we found no published human data on how much tirzepatide they actually deliver. Here is what each option is, what it costs, and what is still unknown.

Is there a tirzepatide pill?

Not an approved one. A search of DailyMed, the National Library of Medicine’s database of FDA labels, on October 27, 2026 returned eight tirzepatide labels, all of them injections: Zepbound and Mounjaro (DailyMed). The Zepbound label describes it as an injection given under the skin once a week.

Tirzepatide is a large peptide, a chain of amino acids with a molecular weight of about 4,814, that acts on two hormone receptors, GIP and GLP-1. Peptides are often broken down in the stomach before the body can use them, which is why many peptide medicines are injected, as Novo Nordisk explains for its own semaglutide pill (Ozempic).

So when you see “oral tirzepatide,” “tirzepatide tablets” or “sublingual tirzepatide,” it’s one of two things: Foundayo, which is not tirzepatide, or a compounded product.

Foundayo: Lilly’s approved weight-loss pill

Foundayo contains orforglipron, a GLP-1 receptor agonist and a much smaller molecule than tirzepatide, with a molecular weight of about 902. The label lets you take it once a day at any time, with or without food. It’s approved, with diet and exercise, for adults with obesity, or overweight with at least one weight-related condition.

You start at 0.8 mg, then step up to 2.5 mg and 5.5 mg, spending at least 30 days on each dose. From there the dose can rise to 9 mg, 14.5 mg and a maximum of 17.2 mg, depending on how well it works and how you tolerate it.

In its 72-week trial of 3,127 adults with obesity, or overweight and a weight-related condition, and without type 2 diabetes, average weight loss was:

For comparison, Zepbound 15 mg averaged 20.9% over 72 weeks in its main trial, against 3.1% on placebo, in a separate study. Our Foundayo vs Zepbound guide compares the two.

Foundayo carries the same boxed warning for thyroid C-cell tumors as Zepbound, and isn’t for anyone with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or MEN 2. The label notes orforglipron isn’t active in rats or mice and caused no tumors in rodents, but the warning still applies.

What Foundayo costs

With commercial insurance that covers it, Lilly says you could pay as little as $25 a month; government plan members are excluded (LillyDirect). Our Foundayo cost guide covers every dose and Medicare.

Compounded oral and sublingual tirzepatide

Some online programs sell compounded tirzepatide as daily tablets, capsules, dissolving tablets or drops held under the tongue (sublingual). Whatever the form, the same facts apply:

• It isn’t FDA-approved. Compounded tirzepatide is not Zepbound or Mounjaro and not a generic of either. A compounding pharmacy prepares it, and the FDA doesn’t review compounded drugs for safety, effectiveness or quality before they’re sold (FDA).
• There’s no published absorption data. We searched PubMed on October 27, 2026 for studies of oral, sublingual or tablet tirzepatide and its absorption. The closest was a 2026 lab study from Kookmin University in Seoul that built an experimental tirzepatide tablet with an absorption enhancer, sodium caprate, and measured blood levels in beagle dogs (PubMed). We found no human study of how much tirzepatide a compounded tablet, capsule or drop delivers, or what weight loss it produces.
• The trials don’t carry over. Zepbound’s 20.9% result came from weekly injections. None of it tells you what a compounded oral product does.

Why absorption is the open question

The best comparison is semaglutide, a smaller GLP-1 peptide that Novo Nordisk did turn into approved tablets. To get it through the stomach, Novo pairs it with an absorption enhancer called SNAC. Even so, the Rybelsus and Ozempic tablets label puts absolute bioavailability, the share of the dose that reaches the blood, at about 0.4% to 1% for Rybelsus and 1% to 2% for Ozempic tablets. Those tablets also need an empty stomach, no more than 4 ounces of water and a 30-minute wait before food. That’s why oral semaglutide doses (up to 25 mg for the Wegovy pill) are far higher than weekly injected doses.

No comparable data has been published for compounded tirzepatide by mouth or under the tongue. If a program offers one, ask what dose you’d take, how it was chosen, which pharmacy prepares it, and whether the pharmacy has any absorption data.

Where compounding stands

Tirzepatide is no longer on the FDA’s drug shortage list, and the grace periods that let compounders keep making it as a shortage drug ended in early 2025: for state-licensed pharmacies first, then on March 19, 2025 for outsourcing facilities. The FDA also says a state-licensed pharmacy may not compound, regularly or in inordinate amounts, drugs that are essentially copies of a commercially available drug (FDA). Our guide on compounded tirzepatide vs Zepbound explains what that means for buyers.

What oral tirzepatide costs

Among the 26 weight-loss programs we rank, 2 publish a price for compounded tirzepatide by mouth, as of November 2026. Strut Health lists an oral tirzepatide tablet at $199 a month, with physician consultations, medication and free shipping included. RxSpan MD’s tirzepatide capsules cost $349 a month month to month, $299 a month on a 3-month plan and $289 a month on a 6-month plan paid up front, with the consult, medication and shipping included.

Compounded tirzepatide injections cost $85.58 to $378.08 a month at the 21 of the 26 programs we rank that publish a price, as of November 2026. See our compounded tirzepatide cost guide and cheapest tirzepatide rankings.

Tirzepatide pill vs shot vs Foundayo

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Which route fits

• If you want a pill with approval and trial data, the options are Foundayo and the Wegovy pill. Our Foundayo vs Wegovy pill guide compares them, and our oral GLP-1 rankings compare programs that offer pills.
• If you want tirzepatide itself, the approved form is the weekly injection. Our tirzepatide rankings compare programs that prescribe it.
• If you’re considering compounded oral tirzepatide, know that you’re taking a product with no approval and no published human absorption data.

The bottom line

There is no tirzepatide pill approved by the FDA, and Lilly’s approved pill, Foundayo, is a different drug that averaged 11.1% weight loss at its top dose and costs $149 to $299 a month. Compounded tirzepatide tablets and drops exist, but they aren’t FDA-approved, and no one has published how much tirzepatide they deliver. Talk with a licensed clinician about which form makes sense for you.