Foundayo Now Wins a Third of New Oral GLP-1 Patients, Lilly's CEO Says
TL;DR: Lilly's CEO says Foundayo now wins 1/3 of new oral GLP-1 starts, and Lilly takes 70% of 700k new Medicare GLP-1 patients (21 Sep 2026).
What Did Lilly's CEO Say About Foundayo's Market Share?
Speaking to CNBC on 21 September 2026, Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks said Foundayo (orforglipron), the company's oral GLP-1 tablet, now accounts for roughly a third of new patients starting an oral GLP-1 medicine in the US.[1] That is a marked jump from the weekly IQVIA prescription data reported on 4 September 2026, when Foundayo held around 44,000 weekly scripts against Novo Nordisk's Wegovy pill at roughly 181,000 — a share of new starts closer to one fifth — which our earlier oral GLP-1 prescription tracker covered in detail.[2]
Ricks made the comments on the same day Lilly broke ground on a new manufacturing campus in Houston, framing Foundayo's gains as evidence that the company is "catching up" to Novo Nordisk's early lead in the oral GLP-1 category.[1] He said Lilly's share of the oral segment specifically, as distinct from the injectable segment covered below, is "growing week over week."[1]
Source: CNBC, "Eli Lilly CEO tells CNBC one-third of new GLP-1 pill patients are taking Foundayo, as drugmaker ramps up production," 21 Sep 2026. cnbc.com
This is a CEO's characterisation of internal commercial data on an earnings-adjacent media appearance, not an independently audited dataset in the way IQVIA's tracker is — readers should treat "a third" as a rounded, company-sourced figure pending the next formal prescription-data release, rather than an exact statistic.
How Big Is the New Medicare GLP-1 Market?
Medicare Part D began covering GLP-1 medicines for obesity on 1 July 2026, opening prescription access to a large new population of US seniors who had previously paid out of pocket or gone without.[1] Ricks told CNBC that roughly 700,000 new seniors have started a GLP-1 medicine in the roughly eleven weeks since coverage began, and that Lilly is "capturing about seven out of 10 of those new patients," split across Zepbound (tirzepatide) and Foundayo, with "a lot" still starting on Zepbound.[3]
| Metric | Figure (as of 21 Sep 2026) |
|---|---|
| Medicare GLP-1 obesity coverage start | 1 July 2026 |
| New seniors starting a GLP-1 | ~700,000 |
| Share going to Lilly medicines | ~70% |
| Share going to Novo Nordisk medicines | ~30% |
| Foundayo share of new oral-only starts | ~1/3 |
Ricks attributed Zepbound's continued weight within that 70% to its role for patients "with the most body weight and complications," positioning the injectable as the higher-intensity option and Foundayo as the entry point for patients "looking to lose less weight."[3] None of these figures are independently audited claims data; they are the company's own characterisation of early Medicare rollout numbers, reported by CNBC.
Why Is Lilly Building a $6.5 Billion Plant in Houston?
The same day, Lilly broke ground on a roughly $6.5 billion active-pharmaceutical-ingredient manufacturing campus at Generation Park in Houston, Texas, built across roughly 240 acres and expected to come online later this decade.[4] Lilly has said the site will help scale production of its cardiometabolic portfolio, including Foundayo, as Medicare-driven and general consumer demand for GLP-1 medicines continues to climb.[4]
The build-out is a useful, independently reported signal of how fast the licensed incretin manufacturing base is scaling to meet demand for the whole GLP-1/GIP/glucagon receptor class — the same receptor family that anchors the investigational, injectable triple-agonist research covered in our retatrutide research overview. It says nothing about retatrutide's own manufacturing or regulatory timeline specifically; retatrutide remains a separate molecule with its own Phase 3 programme and no marketing authorisation, tracked in our approval timeline guide.
Does This Affect Retatrutide or UK Research-Reagent Supply?
No. This is US Medicare-coverage and commercial-manufacturing news for three already-licensed medicines — Zepbound, Foundayo and Wegovy — reported via a CEO media interview and a facility groundbreaking. It has no bearing on the separate Human Medicines Regulations 2012 framework under which unlicensed compounds are lawfully supplied for in vitro research use in the UK. Retatrutide's own regulatory position is unchanged: it remains an investigational, injectable, triple-receptor peptide with no marketing authorisation of any kind.
What this news does confirm is that demand and manufacturing capacity across Lilly's licensed incretin franchise — the same GIP/GLP-1/glucagon receptor family retatrutide also targets — continues to expand rapidly and entirely independently of the investigational research-peptide pipeline that Velox Peptides' catalogue supports.
Velox Peptides does not stock orforglipron (Foundayo), tirzepatide branded as Zepbound, or semaglutide (Wegovy). These are licensed prescription medicines discussed here for research-news context only. This compound is supplied as a research reagent only, has not been evaluated by the MHRA or FDA for use in our products, and is not for human or veterinary use. See our Research Use Policy and MHRA Statement.
References
- CNBC. Eli Lilly CEO tells CNBC one-third of new GLP-1 pill patients are taking Foundayo, as drugmaker ramps up production. 21 September 2026. cnbc.com
- See Velox coverage: Foundayo vs Wegovy Pill: Oral GLP-1 Scripts Hit New Highs, citing IQVIA/Fierce Pharma data as of 4 September 2026.
- CNBC. Eli Lilly CEO says 700,000 new seniors have started GLP-1s after Medicare coverage, and 70% are on Lilly drugs. 21 September 2026. cnbc.com
- Eli Lilly and Company. Lilly plans to build a new $6.5 billion facility to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients in Texas. Investor news release, 2026. investor.lilly.com
- See Velox coverage: Retatrutide FDA & MHRA Approval Timeline, tracking the separate, unlicensed, investigational status of retatrutide.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Eli Lilly's CEO say about Foundayo's market share?
Speaking to CNBC on 21 September 2026, Lilly CEO Dave Ricks said Foundayo (orforglipron) now accounts for roughly a third of new patients starting an oral GLP-1 medicine, up from about a fifth of weekly oral GLP-1 scripts recorded by IQVIA data in early September 2026.
How many seniors have started GLP-1 treatment under Medicare coverage?
Ricks said roughly 700,000 new seniors have started a GLP-1 medicine since Medicare Part D began covering GLP-1 obesity treatments on 1 July 2026, and that Lilly is capturing about 70% (seven in ten) of those new patients across Zepbound and Foundayo, versus Novo Nordisk's Wegovy injection and Wegovy pill.
What is Lilly building in Houston and why?
On 21 September 2026, Lilly broke ground on a roughly $6.5 billion active-pharmaceutical-ingredient manufacturing campus at Generation Park in Houston, Texas, on about 240 acres. The site is intended to help scale production of Lilly's growing GLP-1 portfolio, including Foundayo, and is expected to become operational later this decade.
Does this Medicare and manufacturing news affect retatrutide or UK research-reagent supply?
No. This is US Medicare coverage and commercial manufacturing news for already-licensed medicines (Zepbound, Foundayo, Wegovy). It has no bearing on the UK's Human Medicines Regulations 2012 framework under which unlicensed compounds are lawfully supplied as in vitro research reagents. Retatrutide remains a separate, investigational, injectable triple-receptor peptide with no marketing authorisation anywhere; Velox Peptides supplies it strictly as an HPLC-verified research reagent, not a medicine.