Eli Lilly reported $98 million in second-quarter sales for Foundayo, its newly launched oral GLP-1 treatment, lagging far behind rival Novo Nordisk's Wegovy pill.
On Tuesday, Novo reported its quarterly results which showed that Wegovy pill generated sales of 3.22 billion Danish kroner ($497 million). In May, Novo revealed first-quarter sales of the weight-loss pill at 2.26 billion Danish kroner ($354 million) following its launch on Jan. 5, three months before Lilly received FDA approval for Foundayo on April 1.
The sales results track with IQVIA prescription data, showing that Novo’s launch has accelerated at a much quicker pace, with its first-to-market advantage playing a role.
While Foundayo’s overall result “disappointed,” according to Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger, he noted that the drug's sales in the United Arab Emirates were at $31 million, which “bodes well for Foundayo’s global potential.”
As for Foundayo's launch in the U.S., recent indicators are trending positively, showing an ‘inflection point” in its growth, Lilly’s president of U.S. operations, Ilya Yuffa, said in a conference call.
“We’re seeing week-to-week growth in overall prescriptions and uptake for Foundayo,” Yuffa said. “We’re doubling the volume that we had just a month ago and we’re starting to see new starts coming in nearly around one out of four.”
The good news for Lilly on Wednesday was that it continues to put distance between itself and Novo in revenue from its injected diabetes and obesity medicines. The Indianapolis company reported worldwide sales of Mounjaro at $9.9 billion for the second quarter, which were up 91%, and Zepbound at $4.9 billion, for a 46% year-over-year increase.
Helping explain the disparity in sales between Lilly’s two tirzepatide products is that outside the U.S., Mounjaro is the brand name for its use in both Type 2 diabetes and obesity.
Meanwhile, Novo reported worldwide sales of Ozempic at about 31.4 trillion Danish kroner ($4.8 billion), reflecting a 3% year-over-year increase, and of injected Wegovy at 19.5 trillion Danish kroner ($3.0 billion) for a 1% increase.
Among injectable incretins, Lilly’s drugs are now drawing three out of four new patient starts, the company said.
Sales of Mounjaro and Zepbound fueled Lilly’s revenue for the quarter to $23 billion, which was up 48% year over year and routed analysts' consensus of $20.6 billion. The revenue figure also was a 16% sequential increase after Lilly had just a 3% sequential boost in the first quarter.
With the result, Lilly increased the midpoint of its 2026 revenue projection from $83.5 billion to $86 billion. Its new guidance window is $85 billion to $87 billion. If the midpoint of the projection is achieved, it would provide a 32% increase from Lilly’s $65.2 billion revenue of 2025.
Risinger said that the new projection “appears conservative,” noting that it implies flat sales in the second half.
“A caveat is that there were one-time sales benefits in the first half such as Jardiance milestone payments and onetime adjustments that benefited certain products such as Trulicity,” Risinger added.