As Eli Lilly races to launch its flagship oral drug GLP-1 Foundayo, the Indianapolis drugmaker and at least one set of analysts are not sweating what appears to be a slower-than-expected rise compared to Novo Nordisk’s rival drug Wigovy.
With the approval of Faundayo (olforglipron) on April 1 (and became widely available in the U.S. on April 9), approximately 20,000 patients are currently taking the drug to treat obesity or overweight, Ilya Yuffa, EVP and president of Lilly USA, said on a conference call with analysts on Thursday.
“Although it’s still early days, we’re pretty happy with the trajectory and are supporting the initial rollout,” the executive said. Going forward, Lilly will focus on driving uptake of GLP-1 tablets by digging deeper into physician and patient awareness and access, with the view that Foundayo’s “trajectory will build over time.”
As industry watchers closely track the approval process and launch of Foundayo and Novo’s Wegovy tablets, there is a strong temptation to pit the product rollouts against each other.
Earlier this month, Jefferies analysts cited IQVIA data showing that Foundayo had collected 3,707 prescriptions through its second week on sale, which pales in comparison to the 18,410 that Wegovy tablets received during the same period of launch.
At the same time, the Jefferies team cautioned that comparing launches was a “difficult” proposition, and further warned that initial recoveries from IQVIA were “volatile” and may not take into account product sampling.
In a note to clients on Thursday, Kantar analysts called the formulation update for Foundayo “progressively supportive,” adding that they had received indications that Lilly was adding about 1,000 scripts per day.
As for what steps Lilly will use to build momentum for Foundayo, Yuffa said the company is working to increase awareness of the pill among healthcare professionals. Foundayo currently has about 8,000 prescribers in the U.S., and the executive said about one-third of them have never written an oral GLP-1 prescription before.
In addition to efforts to increase physician awareness, Yuffa said Lilly is also seeking to expand access and consumer awareness.
In particular, he pointed to Lilly’s plans for “full-fledged” direct-to-consumer sales of the drug and increased visibility on television.
Digging deeper into the launch movement, Lilly said in his earnings presentation (PDF) that the company currently delivers Foundayo to more than a dozen “major telemedicine platforms,” which represents about 35% of Foundayo’s current launch volume.
The company added that it plans to launch Foundayo’s in-person sales force on April 17 and launch the extensive promotional efforts hinted at by Yuffa in the third quarter of 2026.
Regarding access, Lilly said it had confirmed coverage with two of the three major pharmacy benefit managers by mid-May, and also confirmed access to Medicare through CMS’ GLP-1 Bridge program starting July 1.
Overall, Lilly’s first-quarter sales rose 56% to $19.8 billion, beating consensus revenue estimates by about 13%, according to a note from analysts at Leerink Partners. As in recent quarters, these gains were driven by strong sales of Lilly’s injectable GIP/GLP-1 agonist tirzepatide (also known as Zepbound and Mounjaro) for the treatment of obesity and diabetes.
Building on this year’s strong start, Lilly also raised its 2026 outlook by $2 billion on both ends, predicting full-year sales in the range of $82 billion to $85 billion.
In explaining the sales situation, the Leerink team noted that much of the first-quarter surge was driven by the adoption of Lilly’s GIP/GLP-1 drug Mounjaro outside the US, where sales were 35% above consensus, and that medium-term profit in the US was 13% above consensus.
In the United States, Lilly sells its treatment tirzepatide under different brand names, Mounjaro and Zepbound, for type 2 diabetes and obesity, respectively. Outside the United States, both indications are primarily covered by the single Mounjaro name.
In the first quarter, Lilly reported total Mounjaro sales of approximately $8.7 billion, a 125% jump from the same period last year. Zepbound grew 80% and brought in approximately $4.1 billion in the fiscal year.
