What is Mounjaro?
What is Mounjaro, and how does it work?
Mounjaro (tirzepatide, diabetes label) is a injection made by Eli Lilly, whose active ingredient is tirzepatide. FDA approved for type 2 diabetes. Weight loss is off-label use. The same molecule as Zepbound, described by its diabetes label: it activates GIP and GLP-1 receptors, raising insulin and lowering glucagon only when glucose is high. In its pivotal trial it produced 15% mean weight loss. It costs $499 a month once titrated, a figure read from the seller's own page on 2026-08-24 — the maintenance rate rather than the starting dose, because the starting dose is not the dose anyone stays on.
How it works, from the label
The same molecule as Zepbound, described by its diabetes label: it activates GIP and GLP-1 receptors, raising insulin and lowering glucagon only when glucose is high.
Tirzepatide is a GIP receptor and GLP-1 receptor agonist. It contains a C20 fatty diacid that enables albumin binding and prolongs the half-life. Tirzepatide selectively binds to and activates both the GIP and GLP-1 receptors, the targets for native GIP and GLP-1. Tirzepatide enhances first- and second-phase insulin secretion, and reduces glucagon levels, both in a glucose-dependent manner.
Quoted from the mechanism of action section of FDA prescribing information for MOUNJARO, read 2026-08-29. Not paraphrased: how a drug works is the last thing a price site should put in its own words.
What it is approved for
Glycemic control in type 2 diabetes
As an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve glycemic control in adults and pediatric patients 10 years of age and older with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Weight reduction is not an approved indication for this product — that is Zepbound, the same molecule under a different label.
Which approval a plan cannot exclude — a weight-loss exclusion is written against the use, not the molecule.
What the trial found
15% of body weight. SURPASS trials in type 2 diabetes; weight loss is a secondary endpoint
One trial, one protocol, one population. Comparing it with another drug's figure compares two separate experiments rather than two drugs — the comparison, and what a point of body weight costs.
It carries a boxed warning — the strongest the FDA issues
In rodents this molecule caused thyroid C-cell tumours at human-relevant doses. Whether it does so in people is unknown, and the label carries that as a boxed warning. It is contraindicated outright with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or MEN 2.
What it costs
$499 a month once titrated, read from the seller's own page on 2026-08-24. Definitional pages in this category stop before this line; it is the reason this one exists.
Mounjaro, answered
- How does Mounjaro work?
- The same molecule as Zepbound, described by its diabetes label: it activates GIP and GLP-1 receptors, raising insulin and lowering glucagon only when glucose is high. The label's own words, from its mechanism of action section: "Tirzepatide is a GIP receptor and GLP-1 receptor agonist. It contains a C20 fatty diacid that enables albumin binding and prolongs the half-life. Tirzepatide selectively binds to and activates both the GIP and GLP-1 receptors, the targets for native GIP and GLP-1. Tirzepatide enhances first- and second-phase insulin secretion, and reduces glucagon levels, both in a glucose-dependent manner."
- What is Mounjaro approved for?
- glycemic control in type 2 diabetes. Approvals are quoted from the label rather than summarised, because the wording is what a prior authorisation is judged against — the full text of each is on the indications page.
- How much weight did Mounjaro lose in its trial?
- 15% of body weight. SURPASS trials in type 2 diabetes; weight loss is a secondary endpoint That is what one trial reported under its own protocol, not a prediction for any person, and it cannot be compared directly with another drug's figure because no trial ran them against each other.
- How much does Mounjaro cost?
- $499 a month once titrated, read from the seller's own page on 2026-08-24. The starting dose is usually cheaper and nobody stays on it, which is why the maintenance figure is the one this site records.
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Last updated 2026-08-29 — the FDA label this page quotes