Yes. Every Ozempic pen has a printed expiration date set by Novo Nordisk, typically 18 to 24 months from manufacture. Once the pen is in use, a separate 56-day in-use window applies on top of the expiration date.

When does Ozempic expire after first use?

56 days after first use, whether the pen is kept refrigerated or at room temperature up to 86°F. Discard the pen on day 57 even if doses remain.

What is the shelf life of Wegovy?

Unopened Wegovy pens last until the carton's expiration date when refrigerated at 36 to 46°F. Once the pen is in use, 28 days at fridge or room temperature up to 86°F.

Does semaglutide expire after 28 days?

Wegovy pens have a 28-day in-use window. Ozempic pens have a 56-day in-use window. Sealed pens of either brand last until the printed expiration date when refrigerated.

Does Ozempic expire in the fridge?

Yes, eventually. Refrigeration keeps Ozempic stable until the manufacturer expiration date on the carton, typically 18 to 24 months from manufacture. After first use, the 56-day rule overrides the carton expiration.

Can I use semaglutide after the expiration date?

No. The FDA advises against using any medication after its expiration date. Semaglutide potency drops, sterility is no longer guaranteed, and you cannot tell from looking at the solution whether it is still therapeutic.

What happens if you take expired Ozempic?

The most likely outcome is reduced effect because the peptide has degraded. You are unlikely to feel acute side effects from expiration alone, but you may notice appetite and blood sugar control slipping. Contamination risk increases with expired pens, especially after first use.

I accidentally took expired semaglutide, what should I do?

Call your prescriber. If the pen was just a few days past its window, monitor for any unusual symptoms and use a fresh pen for the next dose. If the pen was months expired, frozen, or visibly off, the dose may have been subpotent or contaminated; document the lot number and discuss next steps.

How long does compounded semaglutide last in the fridge?

Most compounded vials carry a beyond-use date of 30 to 90 days unopened, and 28 to 30 days after first puncture. Follow the exact date on the pharmacy label. Refrigerate continuously and do not freeze.

Can I freeze semaglutide to extend its shelf life?

No. Freezing damages the semaglutide molecule and the freeze-thaw cycle ruins the formulation. Any pen or vial that has been frozen must be discarded, even if the solution looks clear after thawing.

What does spoiled semaglutide look like?

Cloudiness, visible particles, yellow or brown discoloration, or any unusual smell. Healthy semaglutide solution is clear and colorless. If anything looks off, throw the pen or vial out and contact your pharmacy for a replacement.

Can semaglutide stay at room temperature the whole time?

After first use, yes for branded pens, within their in-use windows: 56 days for Ozempic, 28 days for Wegovy, both up to 86°F. Before first use, both brands need refrigeration. Compounded vials need continuous refrigeration unless the pharmacy specifically says otherwise.

What if my fridge is too cold and my pen froze?

Discard the pen. Frozen semaglutide is non-recoverable damage even if the solution thaws clear. Check your fridge thermometer; 36 to 46°F is the safe range. Below 32°F means something is wrong with the appliance or with where you stored the pen.

How Long Does Semaglutide Last in the Fridge?

Summary: Sealed Ozempic and Wegovy pens stay good in the fridge at 36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit until the manufacturer expiration date, typically 18 to 24 months from production. Once you take the cap off and inject the first dose, the clock changes: 56 days for Ozempic, 28 days for Wegovy, then discard.

This content is for informational purposes only and is not medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before starting, changing, or stopping any medication.

The short answer: an unopened Ozempic or Wegovy pen lasts in the fridge until the expiration date printed on the carton, which is typically 18 to 24 months from the date of manufacture. Once you uncap the pen for your first injection, the rules change. Ozempic is good for 56 days. Wegovy is good for 28 days. After those windows, you throw the pen away regardless of how much medication is still in it.

Compounded semaglutide is a different story, and the answer there depends on the pharmacy. Lyophilized powder is different again. The number you actually need depends on which form you have, so check the table below, then read the section for your product.

The fast answer for every form of semaglutide

Product	Unopened in fridge	After first use
Ozempic pen	Until expiration on carton	56 days, fridge or room temp up to 86°F
Wegovy pen	Until expiration on carton	56 days, fridge or room temp up to 86°F
Rybelsus tablets	No refrigeration needed	Until expiration, 68 to 77°F dry
Compounded semaglutide vial	Until pharmacy beyond-use date	28 to 30 days typical (check label)
Lyophilized powder, sealed	Months to years	28 to 30 days after reconstitution

A note on Wegovy. The FDA-approved label states that once the pen has been removed from refrigeration, it can be kept at 46 to 86°F (8 to 30°C) and must be used within 28 days ^[2]. Older Healthline and pharmacy summaries sometimes quote 28 days, sometimes 56. The current Novo Nordisk prescribing information for the Wegovy single-dose pen also supports 28 days once in use. Always check the label that came with your specific pen, because Novo Nordisk has updated stability language across formulations.

For Ozempic, the multi-dose pen carries a 56-day in-use window at fridge or room temperature up to 86°F ^[1]. That window is per pen, not per refill. Day 57, the pen goes in the sharps container even if there are doses left.

Storage rules in detail: Ozempic

Sealed Ozempic pens belong in the refrigerator at 36 to 46°F (2 to 8°C) until you need them. Novo Nordisk assigns an expiration date of roughly 24 months from manufacture, printed on the carton and on the pen itself. Stored at the right temperature, the pen is stable for that entire period. You can stock up on a 90-day supply without losing potency.

Once you remove the cap and dial your first dose, two things change:

The pen can now live at room temperature, between 59 and 86°F (15 to 30°C), or stay in the fridge. Your choice.
You have 56 days from first use, total. Refrigerating it does not extend that window.

Keep the pen cap on between doses. Protect it from direct sunlight and from heat sources like a windowsill, a car dashboard, or the top of a radiator. Do not put it in the freezer or directly against the back wall of the refrigerator, where temperatures often drop below 36°F. Frozen semaglutide is dead semaglutide. Discard it even if it thaws and looks fine.

Storage rules in detail: Wegovy

Wegovy uses a five-step dose escalation schedule: 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg, 1.0 mg, 1.7 mg, and 2.4 mg. Each strength comes in its own pen, and most patients use one pen per week. Storage rules:

Sealed pens: refrigerate at 36 to 46°F until the expiration date on the carton.
If refrigeration is not available, the unopened pen can sit at 46 to 86°F for up to 28 days before first use, then must be used or discarded ^[2].
After first use: 28 days at room temperature (46 to 86°F) or in the fridge.
Do not freeze. Keep the pen in the original carton to protect from light.

The single-dose nature of Wegovy pens makes the 28-day window less practically important than it sounds, because most people use each pen the day they open it. The number matters if a dose is missed, if you split a pen across two attempts because the needle clogged, or if you store a partly used pen during a travel disruption.

Storage rules in detail: Rybelsus

Oral semaglutide is the exception to the entire refrigeration question. Rybelsus tablets are stored at room temperature between 68 and 77°F (20 to 25°C), in the original bottle, in a dry place ^[3]. No refrigeration required, no refrigeration recommended.

The reason is formulation. Rybelsus combines semaglutide with SNAC (salcaprozate sodium), an absorption enhancer that survives the stomach long enough to deliver peptide into the bloodstream. The solid tablet matrix shields the molecule from the temperature-driven degradation that affects liquid injectable forms. Moisture, not heat, is the enemy of Rybelsus. Keep the desiccant in the bottle. Do not pre-pop tablets into a pill organizer.

Compounded semaglutide

Compounded semaglutide does not have a single answer because compounding pharmacies do not all formulate or test it the same way. The shelf life printed on your vial is called the beyond-use date (BUD). It is the pharmacy's stability claim, not an FDA-approved expiration date. Typical BUDs for compounded semaglutide refrigerated at 36 to 46°F run 30 to 90 days unopened. Once the rubber stopper is punctured, the in-use BUD usually drops to 28 to 30 days.

A few rules that apply to almost every compounded vial:

Refrigerate continuously. Most compounded formulations do not have the preservative system that allows brand pens to sit at room temperature for weeks.
Do not freeze. Freezing degrades semaglutide and can crack the vial.
Keep the vial in the main compartment of the fridge, not the door. Door temperatures swing every time someone reaches for milk.
Wipe the rubber stopper with alcohol before every draw. Multi-use vials become contaminated when needles introduce skin bacteria.
Write the puncture date on the label. The unopened BUD might be 90 days; the in-use BUD might be 28. You only know which you are on if you can see when you started.

If your compounded vial label says 30 days from compounding date and you got it three weeks after it was compounded, you have nine days. The BUD is from compounding, not from the day you received the package.

Lyophilized (freeze-dried) semaglutide

Lyophilized semaglutide arrives as a dry powder in a sealed vial. Manufacturers and research suppliers ship it this way because the dry powder is dramatically more stable than reconstituted solution. Sealed lyophilized vials stored refrigerated at 36 to 46°F can remain viable for months to years, depending on the supplier's stability data.

Once you add bacteriostatic water to reconstitute, the rules change to roughly what compounded semaglutide follows: refrigerate at 36 to 46°F, use within 28 to 30 days. The benzyl alcohol preservative in bacteriostatic water (0.9 percent) is what allows that window. If you reconstitute with plain sterile water, which has no preservative, the in-use shelf life shrinks to a few days at most.

Signs your semaglutide is no longer good

Throw out a pen or vial if any of the following are true:

The medication is cloudy, has visible particles, or shows discoloration. The solution should be clear and colorless.
The pen has been frozen at any point, even if it thawed and looks normal.
The pen has been exposed to temperatures above 86°F for more than a brief period.
The 56-day Ozempic window or 28-day Wegovy window has passed since first use.
The pharmacy beyond-use date on a compounded vial has passed.
The vial or pen has been dropped hard enough to compromise the seal, the cartridge, or the pen mechanism.
There is any unusual smell.

Visual or sensory sign	What it means	Action
Cloudy solution	Possible protein aggregation or contamination	Discard
Floating particles	Contamination or degradation	Discard
Yellow or brown tint	Oxidation or thermal damage	Discard
Pen has been frozen	Peptide structure damaged	Discard
Day 57 on Ozempic	Past the labeled in-use window	Discard
Past pharmacy BUD	Stability no longer guaranteed	Discard

If the solution is clear, colorless, within its in-use window, and the pen has not been frozen or overheated, the medication is fine. Cold pens sting more than room-temperature pens, but cold has not damaged them.

Travel rules

Short trips, branded pens. An opened Ozempic or Wegovy pen can travel at room temperature for the rest of its in-use window (56 days for Ozempic, 28 days for Wegovy from first use) as long as ambient temperature stays at or below 86°F. Pack it in your carry-on, not checked luggage. Cargo hold temperatures swing well outside the safe range.

Longer trips and unopened pens. Use an insulated medication travel case with gel packs. Keep the gel pack from touching the pen directly so it cannot freeze the medication. The TSA allows insulin and other injectable medications including ice packs through security; carry a copy of your prescription or the pharmacy label.

Compounded vials need refrigeration the entire trip. They do not have the room temperature tolerance brand pens do. If you cannot refrigerate at your destination, plan to inject before you leave and pick up again when you return.

Air travel specifics. Inform TSA you have an injectable medication. Pens and vials go through standard screening. Most international airlines accept medical coolers in carry-on; check the airline's policy before flying. Do not pack semaglutide in your checked bag for any flight.

Common storage mistakes

The refrigerator door. The door is the warmest, most temperature-volatile spot in the fridge. Every time someone opens it, the temperature on the door shelf spikes. For a medication that lives in the fridge for months, that adds up. Move your pens to a middle shelf toward the back, where temperatures are most stable.

The back wall. Some refrigerators have cooling coils running down the back wall, and items pressed against the wall can freeze. Keep semaglutide pens a few inches off the back surface.

The crisper drawer. The crisper has its own humidity and airflow controls. Temperatures can drop below the safe range, and condensation can pool. Not a good spot for medications.

The medicine cabinet. The bathroom is warm and humid. Even when the rest of the house sits at room temperature, bathrooms run hot during showers. Wegovy tablets and Rybelsus belong in a dry kitchen cabinet, not the bathroom.

The dashboard or glove compartment. A car parked in summer sun can hit 140°F internally within an hour. Even a sealed Ozempic pen does not survive that. Never leave semaglutide in a hot car.

Using semaglutide after the expiration date

The FDA's position is straightforward: do not use any medication after its labeled expiration date ^[3]. Potency and sterility are not guaranteed past that date, and for semaglutide specifically, the active peptide can degrade in ways you cannot see. An expired pen might deliver 60 percent of the labeled dose, or it might deliver all of it. There is no way to tell from the outside. Drug discount and waste are real, but injecting subpotent medication into a body that expects therapeutic levels is not a fair tradeoff.

If you accidentally inject an Ozempic or Wegovy dose from a pen one or two days past its 56-day window or expiration date, the risk is mostly potency loss rather than acute harm. The semaglutide molecule itself does not become toxic. It becomes weaker, and contamination risk creeps up over time. If you accidentally took a dose from a clearly expired pen (months past expiration, or a pen that was frozen), call your prescriber and your pharmacy. They can help you decide whether to repeat the dose, and they will want to flag the incident for storage education.

Frequently asked questions

Does Ozempic expire?: Yes. Every Ozempic pen has a printed expiration date set by Novo Nordisk, typically 18 to 24 months from manufacture. Once the pen is in use, a separate 56-day in-use window applies on top of the expiration date.
When does Ozempic expire after first use?: 56 days after first use, whether the pen is kept refrigerated or at room temperature up to 86°F. Discard the pen on day 57 even if doses remain.
What is the shelf life of Wegovy?: Unopened Wegovy pens last until the carton's expiration date when refrigerated at 36 to 46°F. Once the pen is in use, 28 days at fridge or room temperature up to 86°F.
Does semaglutide expire after 28 days?: Wegovy pens have a 28-day in-use window. Ozempic pens have a 56-day in-use window. Sealed pens of either brand last until the printed expiration date when refrigerated.
Does Ozempic expire in the fridge?: Yes, eventually. Refrigeration keeps Ozempic stable until the manufacturer expiration date on the carton, typically 18 to 24 months from manufacture. After first use, the 56-day rule overrides the carton expiration.
Can I use semaglutide after the expiration date?: No. The FDA advises against using any medication after its expiration date. Semaglutide potency drops, sterility is no longer guaranteed, and you cannot tell from looking at the solution whether it is still therapeutic.
What happens if you take expired Ozempic?: The most likely outcome is reduced effect because the peptide has degraded. You are unlikely to feel acute side effects from expiration alone, but you may notice appetite and blood sugar control slipping. Contamination risk increases with expired pens, especially after first use.
I accidentally took expired semaglutide, what should I do?: Call your prescriber. If the pen was just a few days past its window, monitor for any unusual symptoms and use a fresh pen for the next dose. If the pen was months expired, frozen, or visibly off, the dose may have been subpotent or contaminated; document the lot number and discuss next steps.
How long does compounded semaglutide last in the fridge?: Most compounded vials carry a beyond-use date of 30 to 90 days unopened, and 28 to 30 days after first puncture. Follow the exact date on the pharmacy label. Refrigerate continuously and do not freeze.
Can I freeze semaglutide to extend its shelf life?: No. Freezing damages the semaglutide molecule and the freeze-thaw cycle ruins the formulation. Any pen or vial that has been frozen must be discarded, even if the solution looks clear after thawing.
What does spoiled semaglutide look like?: Cloudiness, visible particles, yellow or brown discoloration, or any unusual smell. Healthy semaglutide solution is clear and colorless. If anything looks off, throw the pen or vial out and contact your pharmacy for a replacement.
Can semaglutide stay at room temperature the whole time?: After first use, yes for branded pens, within their in-use windows: 56 days for Ozempic, 28 days for Wegovy, both up to 86°F. Before first use, both brands need refrigeration. Compounded vials need continuous refrigeration unless the pharmacy specifically says otherwise.
What if my fridge is too cold and my pen froze?: Discard the pen. Frozen semaglutide is non-recoverable damage even if the solution thaws clear. Check your fridge thermometer; 36 to 46°F is the safe range. Below 32°F means something is wrong with the appliance or with where you stored the pen.

What this article does not cover

This page is the storage and shelf life reference for FDA-approved semaglutide products and the general rules for compounded versions. Specific dosing math, side effect management, injection technique, and the question of whether to choose Ozempic, Wegovy, or compounded semaglutide are covered in their own articles on this site. For storage of related GLP-1 medications, see the tirzepatide pages. The numbers on this page are from the current FDA prescribing information for each product; always cross-check against the label that came with your specific pen or vial.