The sources behind these Tirzepatide notes
Here's where the links lead. Labels explain a product, studies report what happened to their participants, and FDA pages explain the approval and compounding questions.
Product labels
Zepbound (tirzepatide) prescribing information covers its approved weight-management and sleep apnea uses. It also describes the pens and vials, side effects, boxed warning and other safety information.
Mounjaro (tirzepatide) prescribing information covers its type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular uses, with their qualifications. It includes the product's warnings too. Sharing an ingredient doesn't give the two brands identical approved uses.
A prescriber can explain the label information that applies to the medicine in front of you. A product label and a personal treatment decision do different jobs.
Weight-loss trials
Jastreboff and colleagues, Tirzepatide Once Weekly for the Treatment of Obesity, 2022 reports SURMOUNT-1. It studied weight loss over 72 weeks in adults with obesity, or overweight with a related health problem, without diabetes.
Aronne and colleagues, Tirzepatide as Compared with Semaglutide for the Treatment of Obesity, 2025 reports SURMOUNT-5. It compared the two medicines in adults with obesity without type 2 diabetes. People knew their treatment. Eli Lilly, Tirzepatide's maker, funded the trial.
The research notes explain the main results. The dosage page uses the amounts only to describe what trial participants received.
Continued treatment and stopping
Aronne and colleagues, Continued Treatment With Tirzepatide for Maintenance of Weight Reduction in Adults With Obesity, 2024 reports SURMOUNT-4. After 36 weeks of Tirzepatide treatment and weight loss, participants who completed that period were assigned either to continue Tirzepatide or to switch to placebo, a dummy treatment.
The comparison helps explain why follow-up matters. It doesn't tell an individual how long to take a medicine or how to stop.
FDA explanations
Compounding and the FDA: Questions and Answers explains that compounded drugs aren't FDA-approved. FDA doesn't evaluate their safety, effectiveness or quality before they're sold.
FDA's concerns about unapproved GLP-1 drugs include misleading labels and products sold with research-use wording. That wording doesn't establish suitability for treatment.
FDA's policies for compounders explain shortage-related rules and limits on copying approved medicines. This guide doesn't determine whether a particular prescription or preparation meets those rules.