Eli Lilly quells fears that its GLP-1 pill debut is off to a rocky start
Early prescription data for Foundayo showed the pill was having a lackluster rollout compared to its competitor.
Going into its Thursday morning earnings report, Eli Lilly was facing fears that its new GLP-1 pill was not going to live up to expectations.
The company proceeded to crush Q1 estimates and raise its sales guidance for the year, suggesting it’s confident that its GLP-1 shots and newly available pill will continue to outperform. It now expects annual revenue to hit between $82 billion and $85 billion, giving a higher ceiling than its previous guidance of between $80 billion and $83 billion.
The cheery guidance sent the stock up nearly 10%. Those gains helped it claw back some of the losses from this year that came as investors asked whether the company was positioned to keep its seat at the perch of the GLP-1 market.
Lilly’s pill, Foundayo, was launched during the current quarter, so its sales numbers are not reflected in Lilly’s Q1 report. Though it did not provide early sales figures, the company said Foundayo is off to a “strong start” and gave a couple of key details:
So far, more than 80% of prescriptions have been to patients new to the category, which may quell fears that Foundayo could cannibalize sales from its other products. The same is true for Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill, suggesting oral options are in fact expanding the GLP-1 market.
About 45% of the volume for Foundayo so far is coming through Lilly Direct, the company’s direct-to-consumer cash-pay pharmacy, the company told analysts. Lilly has also secured access through two of the three major pharmacy benefit managers, it said.
Those are positive signs after early prescription data for Foundayo showed the pill was having a lackluster rollout, with significantly fewer prescriptions in its first few weeks than Novo’s Wegovy pill, which came to market in January.
Lilly CEO Dave Ricks told CNBC there are now more than 20,000 people taking Foundayo. The drugmaker said it won’t begin advertising the drug until the second half of 2026.
Ricks also said it’s unfair to compare the rollout of Foundayo to the Wegovy pill. Lilly’s pill uses a completely new molecule, orforglipron, while Novo’s pill is an oral version of the same molecule in its GLP-1 shots, Ozempic and Wegovy.
“We have to build a brand and establish a new medicine,” Ricks said. “Doctors aren’t going to write for a medicine they’ve never heard of, so we have to go out and educate them. It’s going to take some time.”
