Foundayo passes 1,000 prescriptions in its first days on sale

Eli Lilly's orforglipron pill, sold under the brand name Foundayo, was prescribed 1,390 times in the U.S. during its first week on the market, according to IQVIA data cited by analysts ^[1][2]. The figures cover the week ending April 10, and analysts said the count likely reflects only about two days of actual pharmacy capture ^[1][2].

By comparison, Novo Nordisk's oral Wegovy pill, also a semaglutide product, reached 3,071 U.S. prescriptions in its first four days after launching January 5, giving it roughly a three-month head start on Foundayo ^[2]. Foundayo won FDA approval on April 1, began accepting prescriptions immediately through LillyDirect, started shipping April 6, and became broadly available through retail pharmacies and telehealth on April 9 ^[2].

Jefferies analyst Akash Tewari called the early numbers "excellent," while RBC Capital Markets analyst Trung Huynh said weeks eight through 12 would be the earliest point to judge Foundayo's real commercial momentum, since first-week data captures only a partial launch window ^[1][2]. Lilly itself cautioned that early weekly figures would not be comprehensive and were best read over time rather than as a complete count ^[2]. Eli Lilly shares rose more than 2% on April 17 ^[2].

Oral Wegovy's own trajectory has kept building: it was prescribed 113,354 times in the week Foundayo launched, up from 105,366 the week before, according to IQVIA ^[2]. J.P. Morgan analyst Chris Schott said the oral pill market appears to be expanding rather than pulling patients away from Lilly's injectable Zepbound, which still leads sales among weight-loss drugs ^[2]. Lilly CEO David Ricks said the once-daily pill offers convenience, including for patients who want to switch from injections after reaching a weight-loss goal, though he acknowledged it is "not as good as Zepbound or Mounjaro" for some patients ^[2].

Alongside the launch, the FDA required Lilly to conduct post-approval safety studies on Foundayo, citing risks the agency said it could not fully characterize from existing trial data, including heart attack, stroke, drug-induced liver injury, and delayed stomach emptying ^[1]. The FDA also asked for 15 years of thyroid cancer follow-up data, consistent with warnings already on Wegovy and Zepbound, plus a new registry tracking outcomes in children and pregnant women who take the drug for obesity ^[1]. Lilly pointed to results from seven Phase 3 studies enrolling more than 11,000 patients and to its ACHIEVE-4 trial, which the company said showed cardiovascular safety and a lower observed risk of all-cause death in patients with elevated cardiovascular risk ^[1].

Why it matters for patients

Prescription counts are an early signal of how many doctors and patients are choosing a new drug, but analysts on both sides caution that a single week of data, especially only two days' worth, does not settle which oral option is more popular ^[1][2]. Patients weighing an oral GLP-1 medicine now have two branded choices — Foundayo (orforglipron) and oral Wegovy (semaglutide) — with different launch timelines and no head-to-head sales comparison yet considered reliable ^[1][2]. The FDA's required long-term safety studies and pregnancy/pediatric registries for Foundayo mean some open questions about risk will only be answered years from now, not at the time of prescribing ^[1]. For people currently on injectable options like Zepbound or Mounjaro, the CEO's own comment that Foundayo is "not as good as Zepbound or Mounjaro" for some measures may be a relevant data point when discussing options with a prescriber ^[2].

What happens next

Analysts say weeks eight through 12 after launch will offer a clearer read on Foundayo's demand compared with early figures ^[1][2]. Lilly has said it plans to submit Foundayo for approval to treat type 2 diabetes by the end of the second quarter of 2026, using the same national priority review voucher program that supported its obesity approval ^[1].