Foundayo Dosage: The Full Chart, How to Take It, and What Changes at Each Step

The Foundayo dosage chart, from starting dose to maximum

That is the fastest pace the FDA label allows. Only the first three steps are fixed. The last three are optional, one level at a time, and your prescriber can keep you on any step longer.

How to take Foundayo: time of day, food and water

Foundayo fits into a busy morning, or a busy evening. It is orforglipron, a GLP-1 drug, which means it copies a gut hormone that helps control appetite. Here is what the label asks of you:

• Any time of day: the label sets no clock. Choosing the same time each day just makes a daily pill easier to remember.
• With or without food: both are fine, so breakfast, lunch or bedtime all work.
• No water rule: there is no set amount to drink and no wait before eating.
• Swallow it whole: don't break, crush or chew the tablet.
• One a day only: never take more than one tablet in a day.

The Wegovy pill is much stricter. It has to go down on an empty stomach with a sip of water, followed by a 30-minute wait before food, drinks or other pills.

The two pills are different drugs. The Wegovy pill is semaglutide, built from protein. Orforglipron is a non-peptide drug, meaning it is not built from protein, and its label carries no food rule at all.

How long you stay on each dose, and whether you need 17.2 mg

Each step lasts at least 30 days. After 5.5 mg, moving up is a choice, not a requirement. The label ties it to how well you respond and how well you tolerate the current dose.

The label doesn't name a fixed maintenance dose, the dose you stay on long term. In practice, the trials kept people on 5.5 mg, 9 mg or 17.2 mg. ATTAIN-1 was the main trial, in 3,127 adults without diabetes. All had obesity, or overweight with a weight-related health problem. Here is the average weight change after 72 weeks:

• 5.5 mg: about 7.5% of body weight
• 9 mg: about 8.4%
• 17.2 mg: about 11%
• Placebo, a dummy pill: about 2%

If you read the study itself, the doses look different. The trials used capsules labelled 6, 12 and 36 mg. Lilly says those match the 5.5, 9 and 17.2 mg tablets sold today.

The top dose did the most on average. It also brought more stomach side effects, as the next sections show. Holding at a lower step that you tolerate well is a real option, not a failure.

What to do if you miss a Foundayo dose

Because Foundayo is daily, its missed-dose rule is short.

• You missed one: take it as soon as you remember.
• Never double up: don't take two tablets on the same day.
• Seven or more days in a row missed: the label says to restart the step-up at a lower dose. That lowers the chance of stomach side effects, and your prescriber picks the restart dose.

That differs from the Wegovy pill, where you skip a missed day instead of taking it late. Don't carry one pill's rule over to the other.

Foundayo side effects at each dose

Stomach side effects are the main story, and they rise with the dose. The FDA label has an adverse reactions table that lists side effects reported in 5% or more of people on Foundayo across its two main trials. It reports the three long-term doses, not the start-up steps. Here is nausea, the most common one:

• 5.5 mg: 26%
• 9 mg: 34%
• 17.2 mg: 35%
• Placebo: 10%

Vomiting follows the same climb. It reached 24% at 17.2 mg, against 4% on placebo.

Diarrhea and constipation each affected about 1 in 4 people at the top dose. On placebo, it was about 1 in 10.

One line in the label matters for women. Hair loss was more common in women than in men. It affected 7% of women on Foundayo, compared with 3% of women on placebo.

• Stopped because of side effects: 8% on Foundayo overall, against 3% on placebo.
• At 17.2 mg: 10% stopped, the highest of the three doses.
• Stomach side effects alone: 6% stopped at 9 mg and 17.2 mg, against under 1% on placebo.

Most of these effects are the same family you'd see with any GLP-1. For what helps and how long they tend to last, see GLP-1 side effects.

Foundayo with birth control, HRT and thyroid pills

Most dosing guides skip this part. In your 40s it may be the part that matters most.

Birth control pills

Foundayo may make birth control pills less reliable. The label says to switch to a non-pill method, or add a barrier method such as condoms, for 30 days after you start. The same 30 days applies after every dose increase.

Non-pill hormonal methods, like a hormonal IUD, implant, patch or ring, are not expected to be affected. Pregnancy is still possible in perimenopause, so this rule applies even if your periods are already irregular.

Menopause hormone therapy and thyroid pills

The label names no specific interaction with menopause hormone therapy. It also doesn't name levothyroxine, the usual thyroid pill.

It does carry one general note. Foundayo slows how fast your stomach empties, which may affect how other pills are absorbed. That note covers any pill you swallow, including oral estradiol and thyroid tablets.

Other drugs the label names

• Drugs that slow how your liver clears Foundayo, such as the antibiotic clarithromycin: the label caps Foundayo at 9 mg with these, and rules out a few others entirely.
• Drugs that speed up clearance, such as the seizure drug carbamazepine: the label says to avoid them, because Foundayo may work less well.
• Simvastatin: this cholesterol drug shouldn't go above 20 mg a day alongside Foundayo.
• Insulin or sulfonylureas: for people with diabetes, these may need a lower dose to avoid low blood sugar.

Switching to Foundayo from Wegovy, Zepbound or the Wegovy pill

There is no conversion chart. The label gives no milligram-for-milligram switch, and its only written starting point is 0.8 mg.

That is because these are different drugs. Wegovy and the Wegovy pill are semaglutide. Zepbound is tirzepatide. Foundayo is orforglipron.

The label also says not to use Foundayo together with another GLP-1 drug. So a switch means one ends before the other begins, on a plan your prescriber sets.

The best data on switching comes from ATTAIN-MAINTAIN, a randomized trial against placebo. People who had already lost weight on tirzepatide or semaglutide shots moved to Foundayo or a placebo for a year. Here is how much of their lost weight they kept:

• Coming from tirzepatide: about 75% on Foundayo, against about 49% on placebo.
• Coming from semaglutide: about 79% on Foundayo, against about 38% on placebo.

The trial had no group that stayed on the shots, so it can't say which route holds weight best. For the ladders you'd be leaving, see Wegovy dosage and Zepbound dosage. For all GLP-1 schedules side by side, see GLP-1 dosage.

Does Foundayo dosing change in perimenopause or after menopause?

No. The label has one schedule for all adults, with no separate plan by age or menopause stage.

Weight that creeps up in your 40s, even when nothing else has changed, is a real midlife pattern. It isn't a lack of effort. Still, the pill is dosed the same way whatever your stage.

The closest age data is a post hoc analysis of adults 65 and older in the two main trials. Post hoc means researchers went back to the trial data after the fact. Older adults lost more weight on Foundayo than on placebo, with side effects in line with other GLP-1 drugs.

What does change in midlife is the context around the dose. The birth control rule, the hair loss line for women and the note on oral hormone pills all apply to you.

Does the Foundayo price go up with your dose?

Yes, in steps. Here are Eli Lilly's self-pay prices for a one-month supply:

• 0.8 mg: about $150 a month
• 2.5 mg: about $150 a month through Dec 31, 2026 · Then about $200
• 5.5 mg: about $200 a month through Dec 31, 2026 · Then about $300
• 9 mg: about $300 a month
• 14.5 mg and 17.2 mg: about $300 a month · Needs a refill within 45 days · Otherwise about $350

The 45-day condition applies only to the two top doses. The clock starts on the delivery date of your last fill.

On Medicare Part D, the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge lists Foundayo at $50 a month for people who meet its criteria. It also covers Wegovy and the Zepbound KwikPen. It runs through Dec 31, 2027. It needs prior authorization, an approval your prescriber requests before the first fill.

If your commercial insurance covers Foundayo, Lilly's savings card can bring a fill down to as little as $25. It saves at most $100 per one-month fill and $1,000 a year, so a high deductible can use it up early. The card ends Dec 31, 2026.

For every way to buy it, including telehealth programs and their fees, see Foundayo cost. To weigh it against the shots on price, see the best places to get a GLP-1 online.

Who shouldn't take Foundayo, and when to call your prescriber

Foundayo carries a boxed warning, the FDA's strongest label alert, about thyroid C-cell tumors. Those tumors appeared in rats and mice given other GLP-1 drugs. Orforglipron doesn't act in rats or mice and caused no tumors in them. Whether the finding matters for people is still unknown.

The label lists three situations where you should not take it:

• Medullary thyroid cancer, or MTC, in you or anyone in your family. It is a rare type of thyroid cancer.
• MEN 2, an inherited condition of the hormone glands that is linked to that cancer.
• A serious allergic reaction to orforglipron or any ingredient in the tablet.

The label's Medication Guide lists signs that need a call right away:

• Neck changes: a lump or swelling in your neck, hoarseness, trouble swallowing or shortness of breath.
• Severe stomach pain that won't go away, with or without vomiting, sometimes reaching your back. Stop Foundayo and call, because this can be pancreatitis, an inflamed pancreas.
• Gallbladder signs: pain in your upper stomach, fever, yellow skin or eyes, or clay-colored stools.
• Vomiting or diarrhea you can't keep up with: losing that much fluid can strain your kidneys.
• Pregnancy: stop Foundayo once you know you're pregnant. Tell your prescriber if you plan to become pregnant.
• Surgery or sedation coming up: tell the care team you take Foundayo, since GLP-1 drugs carry a rare risk of inhaling stomach contents under anesthesia.