The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved a new weight loss pill from drugmaker Eli Lilly.
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The daily pill, called Foundayo, is the second oral GLP-1 to hit the market in recent months, following the approval of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill in December.
Foundayo will be given in six doses, and patients usually start with a low dose and work their way up to minimize side effects. It can be taken at any time of the day without food restrictions – unlike the Wegovy pill, which must be taken on an empty stomach every morning.
The lowest dose is expected to cost about $149 a month for people paying out of pocket, according to Wegovy’s pill. Higher doses can cost around $349 per month. It is unclear how many private insurance companies will cover the drug. Under the Trump administration’s plan, Medicare could begin covering the drug for some patients as soon as this summer, with copays as low as $50 a month.
“It’s a step forward for a simple oral medicine,” said Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks in an interview. “You just put it in that pillbox in the morning, and it goes into your daily routine.”
The approval comes as the GLP-1 market continues to grow, with new options offering more weight loss, different forms or lower prices.
Lilly also has another GLP-1 drug in development, called retatrutide, which has shown more weight loss in trials than any other drug on the market.
But pill versions often lead to less weight loss than weekly injections — a gap that can make them unpopular with patients.
Phase 3 clinical trial data found that Foundayo helped people lose 12.4% of their weight, on average, at the highest dose after 72 weeks — similar to the Wegovy pill but less than the injectable versions of Wegovy and Zepbound. That is not a direct comparison because the drugs have not been compared in a head-to-head clinical trial.
Dr. Jody Dushay, an endocrinologist and obesity specialist at Harvard Medical School, said that many of his patients who have switched to the Wegovy pill complain that they are not losing as much weight.
“The jury is still out on what people will really benefit from these pills,” said Dushay, who is not affiliated with Lilly or Novo Nordisk. “I mean, 12% is weak compared to what you’ll see with Wegovy and Zepbound.”
Ricks agreed that Zepbound is very successful but said that tablets still have a place.
“People report that they’ve had a lot of success with Zepbound and want to switch to something, you know, something less frequent than a weekly injection, where you have to transport it under frozen conditions and remember to take it once a week,” he said.
Demand for weight loss pills is strong, if Novo Nordisk’s sales are any indication. In February, Novo Nordisk said more than 170,000 people were taking the Wegovy pill after it was launched in January.
Dushay said pills can be a good option for people who want to lose weight after using injections.
They may also benefit patients prone to injection site reactions.
“Of course people have difficulty injecting,” he said.
Lilly said Foundayo’s side effects are similar to its injectable drugs, with gastrointestinal problems — such as nausea, constipation and diarrhea — among the most commonly reported.
