Wegovy 1mg vs Mounjaro 5mg: comparing these two doses

You're partway through a titration, here's where each dose actually sits

Picture this: you've been on Wegovy for a few months and your dose has just moved to 1mg. A friend mentions they're on Mounjaro 5mg. You both wonder, are you at a similar stage? Not quite. The Wegovy (semaglutide) schedule runs 0.25mg, 0.5mg, 1.0mg, 1.7mg and 2.4mg, titrated roughly every four weeks by your prescriber. The 1mg step is the third rung, sitting between the first two tolerability doses and the higher therapeutic doses. Mounjaro (tirzepatide) runs 2.5mg, 5mg, 7.5mg, 10mg, 12.5mg and 15mg, with 2.5mg as the starter. The 5mg step is therefore Mounjaro's second dose, taken after the body has had four weeks to adjust. Proportionally, both 1mg Wegovy and 5mg Mounjaro represent an early-to-mid titration point, but they are not the same medicine and the numbers don't map across, and if you want to understand what moving from 1mg Wegovy to Mounjaro actually involves, that page sets out the clinical picture in detail. You can read more about how dose conversion works between these two treatments if you're thinking about switching. The key point is that your prescriber sets the dose, not a dose-comparison table.

Different medicines, different mechanisms, what that means for these two doses

Wegovy is a GLP-1 receptor agonist: it mimics one gut hormone involved in appetite signalling and gastric emptying. Mounjaro is a dual GIP and GLP-1 receptor agonist, activating two distinct pathways. That difference matters at any dose, including 1mg Wegovy and 5mg Mounjaro, because the biological effect isn't the same even if weight loss at a given dose were numerically similar for a particular person. The broader Wegovy vs Mounjaro comparison covers how these mechanisms translate to clinical outcomes. In the SURMOUNT-5 head-to-head trial, tirzepatide produced greater average weight reduction than semaglutide 2.4mg over 72 weeks, but that was at maximum doses, not the doses this page covers, and it says nothing about which medicine is right for any individual. The SURMOUNT-1 paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine reported average body-weight reductions of around 20–21% at 15mg tirzepatide over 72 weeks, to give a sense of what the full schedule can achieve. Side-effect profiles are similar in character (predominantly gastrointestinal, most noticeable after starting or stepping up) though your individual experience will vary.

A factual look at the two doses side by side

The table below sets out what is known about these two specific doses. Numbers from clinical trials reflect averages across populations; they are not predictions for any one person. Sources: NICE technology appraisal TA1026 (tirzepatide) and NICE TA875 (semaglutide).

Switching, stopping or continuing, what actually happens next

Some people arrive at this comparison because they're considering a switch. If you're thinking about moving from 1mg Wegovy to Mounjaro, or from 5mg Mounjaro to Wegovy, there is no universally agreed conversion formula. The clinical context of the 1mg Wegovy equivalent and the Mounjaro 5mg equivalent in semaglutide terms are each worth reading separately, because the answer depends on clinical factors specific to you. Switching is a clinical decision that a prescriber makes having reviewed your response to treatment, your tolerability history and any other health factors. At nume, a real clinician reads your consultation before anything is approved or dispensed. Our clinical team reviews every case individually, no algorithm decides your dose. For a full picture of cost differences between the two treatments, the Wegovy vs Mounjaro cost comparison gives factual context. Neither medicine is the right answer in the abstract; which suits you is a clinical decision our prescribers make with you.