Ro Semaglutide Review: Body Program Structure and 2026 Pricing

What FDA says to look for in a telehealth seller

FDA's page on unapproved GLP-1 drugs says patients should get a prescription from their doctor and fill it at a state-licensed pharmacy [2]. Its telehealth red flags include a company that does not require a screening and prescription by a licensed doctor before providing medicine, has no licensed doctor available to answer questions after you receive the medication, sends medicine that looks different from what was pictured or arrives damaged or without instructions for use, or puts spelling errors, an incorrect pharmacy address or a possibly fraudulent pharmacy name on the label [2]. A company that claims a compounded drug is the same as an FDA-approved drug is also on the list [2]. These are general FDA criteria; FDA's materials do not rate individual telehealth programs.

Which semaglutide products are approved for weight management

Wegovy injection (approved 2021-06-04) is indicated for weight management in eligible adults and in children 12 and older with obesity. Wegovy tablets (approved 2025-12-22) have a weight-management indication for eligible adults only, with no pediatric indication [3][4][1]. Ozempic injection and the 1.5, 4 and 9 mg Ozempic tablets are approved for type 2 diabetes, with no weight-loss indication [6][7].

The rules for compounded semaglutide

For state-licensed pharmacy compounding, FDA describes an individual-patient prescription requirement and limits on making copies of commercially available drugs. A product that is essentially a copy of an approved drug is allowed only rarely — FDA says it does not intend to act against four or fewer such prescriptions per calendar month — or where the prescriber documents a significant difference for that patient [8]. A semaglutide-plus-vitamin-B12 product may still count as essentially a copy if the route is the same and each strength is within 10% of the commercial product [8].

For outsourcing facilities, FDA proposed on 2026-04-30 to exclude semaglutide from the list of bulk substances those facilities may compound with, finding no clinical need; comments were due 2026-06-29 and FDA said no final decision has been made [9].

FDA also reports dosing errors with compounded injectable semaglutide — patients measuring wrong doses, clinicians miscalculating, doses above the label — and states that semaglutide sodium and semaglutide acetate salts are different active ingredients from the approved drug, with no lawful basis for compounding that it is aware of [2].

What the Wegovy label says

Under the label, Wegovy injection is weekly and stepped up: 0.25 mg for weeks 1 to 4, 0.5 mg for weeks 5 to 8, 1 mg for weeks 9 to 12, 1.7 mg for weeks 13 to 16, then maintenance, with 2.4 mg recommended for weight reduction in adults (1.7 mg is the alternative). Adults who tolerate 2.4 mg for at least four weeks and need more weight loss may reach a maximum of 7.2 mg weekly [1].

STEP 1 gave 1,961 adults without diabetes once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide 2.4 mg or placebo, plus lifestyle intervention, for 68 weeks: mean weight change was -14.9% versus -2.4% [10].

Semaglutide carries a boxed warning: in rodents it caused thyroid C-cell tumors at clinically relevant exposures, and whether it does so in humans is unknown; it is contraindicated with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or MEN 2 [1]. In pooled trials of Wegovy 2.4 mg (2,116 people) versus placebo (1,261), nausea occurred in 44% versus 16%, and 6.8% versus 3.2% stopped treatment because of adverse reactions [1].