April 1 (Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Eli Lilly’s oral weight-loss drug, orforglipron, branded as Foundayo, making it the second pill to enter the fast-growing obesity treatment market.<\/p>\n
Danish rival \u200cNovo Nordisk launched an oral version of its blockbuster weight-loss drug, Wegovy, in the U.S. in January, \u200cseeking an edge over its U.S. counterpart as the market shifts toward more convenient alternatives to injectables.<\/p>\n
Here are the details of the launch and \u200bpricing for their currently approved weight-loss drugs:<\/p>\n
APPROVALS AND AVAILABILITY<\/p>\n
Eli Lilly<\/p>\n
Foundayo (orforglipron): Approved in the United States in 2026 as a once-daily oral GLP-1 therapy for weight loss. Available in the U.S. starting April 6 through the LillyDirect platform, with broader rollout to retail pharmacies and telehealth providers to follow.<\/p>\n
Zepbound: Approved in the U.S. in 2023. The drug, chemically known as tirzepatide, is \u200calso available in Canada, Australia, Japan, China, \u2060India, United Kingdom and the European Union.<\/p>\n
Novo Nordisk<\/p>\n
Wegovy pill (oral semaglutide): Approved in December 2025 and launched in the U.S. in January 2026.<\/p>\n
Wegovy injection: Approved in the U.S. in 2021 and \u2060subsequently launched in more than 15 countries across Europe, North America and Asia.<\/p>\n
PRICING<\/p>\n
Eli Lilly<\/p>\n
Foundayo: Self-pay pricing starts at $149 per month for the lowest dose via the LillyDirect program. Most patients are expected to pay around $349 per month, with refill incentives lowering costs \u200bto as \u200blittle as $299.<\/p>\n
Zepbound: Available in six doses. The U.S. list price \u200branges from $499 to $1,086.37, but the amount patients pay \u200clargely depends on the prescription drug insurance plan. Those with commercial drug insurance may be eligible to pay as low as $25 for a one- or three-month supply of Zepbound.<\/p>\n
Lilly’s U.S. self-pay prices for Zepbound start at $299 a month for the 2.5 mg dose, $399 for 5 mg and $449 for 7.5 mg and higher doses under its “Self Pay Journey Program”.<\/p>\n
UK list price, excluding taxes, is \u00a3133 for a four-week supply of 2.5 mg pre-filled pen devices, \u00a3180 for 5 mg, \u00a3255 for the 7.5 \u200cmg and 10 mg doses, and \u00a3330 for 12.5 mg and 15 \u200bmg, according to Britain’s drug-cost watchdog NICE.<\/p>\n
Novo Nordisk<\/p>\n
Wegovy pill: Patients with \u200bcommercial insurance pay $25 per month, while self-pay prices \u200bstart at $149 per month for 1.5 mg and 4 mg through August 31, 2026. After that, \u200c4 mg is $199 per month. The 9 mg \u200band 25 mg doses cost $299 \u200bper month.<\/p>\n
Wegovy injection: U.S. list price is $1,349.02 per package. Commercial insurance can reduce costs to $25 per month for the pen, while cash-pay customers pay $349 per month for the doses that range from 0.25 mg to 2.4 \u200bmg.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 1 (Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Eli Lilly’s oral weight-loss drug, orforglipron,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[12250,103,61,60,371,10416,11496],"class_list":{"0":"post-378704","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-eli-lilly","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-medication","13":"tag-novo-nordisk","14":"tag-weight-loss-drug"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}