Novo Nordisk’s recent launch of its oral Wegovy pill is progressing well, a development that executives at Eli Lilly say bodes well for their own upcoming product. During Eli Lilly’s fourth quarter earnings call, Ken Kuster, executive vice president of cardiometabolic health, said, “We’re very encouraged by what we’re seeing with oral Wegovy.” Lilly is currently awaiting a decision from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on orforglipron, its own oral obesity medication, which could launch as early as the second quarter.
Novo Nordisk CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar described the Wegovy pill rollout as the best pharmaceutical launch ever during Novo’s earnings call earlier in the day. He noted that more than 100,000 Americans had started using the product within four weeks of its market debut.
Kuster said that the strong start for oral Wegovy supports Lilly’s view that there is significant demand among people with overweight and obesity for an oral treatment option. “It looks like these are mostly new starts. That means it’s expanding the market, and that’s good news for Lilly,” he said.
Eli Lilly reported combined fourth quarter sales of $11.7 billion for its GLP-1 drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound, surpassing analyst expectations of $10.6 billion. The company posted total revenue of $19.3 billion for the quarter, up 43% from a year earlier. Following this report, shares rose more than 9% to $1,095 each.
Lilly executives outlined plans for launching orforglipron if approved. Ilya Yuffa, executive vice president of Lilly USA and Global Customer Capabilities, stated: “Our expectations are high in terms of what we expect for orforglipron in our launch. We expect it to be market expansive and bring new people to therapy for obesity.” Yuffa added that experience from previous launches in the obesity space has contributed to growing consumer and provider awareness.
While Novo Nordisk executives have highlighted that their pill outperformed orforglipron in total weight loss results, Kuster emphasized a key difference with Lilly’s product: it will not require restrictions on food and water intake. “We’re excited to get off to the races here, see this market expand and really look at overall patient satisfaction scores and real-world efficacy with these agents,” he said.
Kuster also mentioned that Lilly has submitted applications for orforglipron approval in 40 countries. Patrik Jonsson, executive vice president of Lilly International, clarified that most international launches would occur in the first half of 2027 but some may happen sooner.
The competition between Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly is expected to intensify as both companies move forward with their respective oral obesity treatments this year.
