With the recent launches of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill and Eli Lilly’s Foundayo, the obesity market is beginning to shift toward oral GLP-1 drugs. While Novo is leveraging first-mover advantage with its familiar Wegovy brand, Lilly is betting that freedom from strict fasting and fluid restriction could give Foundayo an advantage.
Each week, Fierce Pharma’s Oral GLP-1 Tracker leverages analyst notes and IQVIA data to monitor prescription trends and market share changes as these two giants compete to become the go-to oral weight loss solution for millions.
Updated: April 21, 2026
Eli Lilly’s oral GLP-1 Foundayo had a successful launch, collecting 1,390 prescriptions in its first week of release, according to tracking numbers provided by IQVIA and Jefferies. This tally is for the week starting April 6th. This compares to the 3,071 prescriptions Novo Nordisk collected during its Wegovy pill launch week in January.
Although Foundayo fell short in this comparison of oral GLP-1 launch weeks, it exceeded the number of prescriptions recorded in the first week of launch for Lilly’s injectable Zepbound (1,100) and Novo’s injectable Wegovy (768).
Analysts at Jefferies warned in a note to clients that comparisons could be “difficult” given that Oral Wegovy was launched at the beginning of the year and initial acquisition rates from IQVIA are “volatile” and may not include product sampling.
“Overall, we think Foundayo’s initial script is excellent,” Jefferies’ team wrote, adding that they modeled Foundayo’s sales of $1.6 billion this year, compared to consensus $1.5 billion, and peak annual sales of $30 billion, compared to consensus $26 billion.
“Given Foundayo’s clear advantages in scale, distribution, and (cost of goods sold), we believe the real opportunity for Foundayo lies outside the United States,” Jeffries wrote.
