The vocabulary of GLP-1 pricing
Fourteen terms carry most of the weight in this market’s fine print. Each links to a full definition with the live numbers attached.
Updated 2026-08-10 · figures captured 2026-08-09 · how we verify
All-in price
The billed monthly total: medication plus every mandatory recurring fee (membership, platform, or program fees), before …
Maintenance-dose basis
Pricing measured at the dose most people stabilize on — 10 mg weekly for tirzepatide, 2.4 mg for semaglutide — rather th…
Dose-flat pricing
A structure where the monthly price is identical at every dose on the titration ladder, so clinical dose changes are bil…
Dose-tiered pricing
A structure where the monthly price rises with the prescribed dose. Legitimate when the full schedule is published; a te…
Membership fee
A mandatory recurring platform charge separate from medication — $25 to $145 a month across this index. Sometimes it buy…
Prepaid term
A multi-month plan billed upfront in exchange for a lower per-month rate — e.g., $186/month on a 12-month plan means $2,…
503A pharmacy
A state-licensed compounding pharmacy that prepares medication for a specific named patient on an individual prescriptio…
503B outsourcing facility
An FDA-registered compounder held to federal manufacturing standards (CGMP) and FDA inspection, permitted to produce bat…
Compounded medication
A drug prepared by a pharmacy for an individual patient rather than manufactured under an FDA approval. Compounded GLP-1…
Brand channel
Buying the FDA-approved product directly through manufacturer programs — LillyDirect↗ for Zepbound ($299–$449 vials, 45-d…
Titration
The standard stepped increase in dose over the first months of treatment — tirzepatide 2.5 → 5 → 7.5 → 10 mg (with 12.5/…
Sublingual / ODT
Orally disintegrating tablets or drops absorbed under the tongue, sold as needle-free compounded alternatives (tirzepati…
Capture date
The date a figure was read from the provider's own published page. Every price in this database carries one, plus a sour…
Stated, not verified
An evidence flag for figures a company states publicly (interviews, ads, third-party listings) that we could not capture…
Starter-dose teaser
An advertised price that applies only at the bottom of the titration ladder — the lowest such figure in this index is $1…
Maintenance phase
The period after titration when the dose stabilizes — commonly around 10 mg weekly for tirzepatide and 2.4 mg for semagl…
Essential copy
FDA term for a compounded drug that is essentially a duplicate of an approved product. Barred outside declared shortages…
Enforcement discretion
A stated FDA decision not to act against technically noncompliant conduct for a period — the mechanism that let compound…
FDA drug shortage list
The official registry whose entries create the legal exception allowing compounded copies of approved drugs. Tirzepatide…
503B bulks list
The list of substances outsourcing facilities may compound from bulk ingredients. The FDA’s April 30, 2026 proposed rule…
Salt form (semaglutide sodium, tirzepatide sodium)
Chemical variants of the base molecules that some gray-market compounders substitute, sometimes to dodge sourcing rules.…
Tirzepatide–B12 adduct
A chemical interaction between tirzepatide and cyanocobalamin identified in a March 2026 FDA safety finding — significan…
GIP/GLP-1 dual agonist
The drug class tirzepatide belongs to: it activates both the GLP-1 receptor and the GIP receptor, versus semaglutide’s G…
GLP-1 receptor agonist
The class of medications mimicking glucagon-like peptide-1 — regulating appetite and gastric emptying — that includes se…
SURMOUNT-5
The randomized head-to-head trial (published NEJM, 2025) comparing tirzepatide and semaglutide at maximum tolerated dose…
STEP trials
The clinical program behind Wegovy’s approval — STEP-1 showed roughly 15% average body-weight reduction at 68 weeks on 2…
LillyDirect
Eli Lilly’s direct-to-consumer channel selling Zepbound single-dose vials to cash payers — $299 at 2.5 mg, $399 at 5 mg,…
NovoCare
Novo Nordisk’s direct channel: injectable Wegovy at $349/month standard cash ($199 two-month intro at starter doses) and…
45-day refill window
The condition on LillyDirect’s maintenance-dose vial price: $449 holds only if each refill is ordered within 45 days of …
Single-dose vial
A vial containing exactly one dose, drawn and injected with a supplied syringe — the format LillyDirect uses to hit its …
Multi-dose vial
A vial holding several doses that the patient measures out per instructions — the standard compounded format. Cheaper pe…
Cold-chain shipping
Temperature-controlled packaging and transit that injectable GLP-1s require. Programs marked “shipping included” fold it…
Asynchronous (async) telehealth
A visit model where intake, prescriber review, and messaging happen without a live appointment — the default at most pro…
Synchronous (video) visit
A live clinician appointment — Mochi’s model, bundled into its $79/month membership with unlimited access. Costlier to o…
Prior authorization (PA)
The insurer gate on most GLP-1 coverage: documentation that the plan’s criteria (BMI thresholds, comorbidities, sometime…
Cash-pay
Paying without insurance — the lane this entire index prices, spanning compounded programs and the manufacturers’ direct…
Source-verified
This database’s highest evidence status: the figure was read on the provider’s own published pricing page at the capture…
Archive link
A preserved snapshot (typically Internet Archive) of the exact page a price was captured from — the receipt that lets an…
Watch-out flag
A per-record note in the dataset for a caveat that a price alone cannot carry — a surcharge, a verification gap, an unus…
Ceiling vs floor price
The one-line test of any advertised GLP-1 figure: under dose-flat pricing the advertised number is a ceiling (it cannot …