Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly both think the Wegovy pill is doing well, but the American rival sees the successful launch as a harbinger of good news for its own candidate, orforglipron, which is expected to hit the market in the second quarter.
Novo Nordisk’s oral Wegovy launch is going well. And that’s great news for Eli Lilly.
“We’re very encouraged by what we’re seeing with oral Wegovy,” Ken Kuster, executive VP of Lilly cardiometabolic health, said on the company’s fourth quarter earnings call on Wednesday. Lilly is currently awaiting an FDA decision on a rival medicine, orforglipron, with a launch coming as early as the second quarter.
The line echoed what Novo executives said hours earlier on their own earnings call. CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar characterized the Wegovy pill launch as the best pharma launch ever, with more than 100,000 Americans already taking the product after the first four weeks on the market.
Over at Lilly, Kuster said the launch “validates our belief that there’s a substantial number of people with overweight and obesity who’ve been sitting on the sidelines waiting for an oral option. It looks like these are mostly new starts. That means it’s expanding the market, and that’s good news for Lilly.”
The company also reported revenue of $19.3 billion for the fourth quarter, representing 43% growth from the same period a year earlier. Lilly’s shares were up more than 9% to $1,095 apiece on Wednesday morning.
Planning for an Orforglipron Launch
Typically, a pharma launch is a slow build. Obesity has defied that, with growing consumer awareness and self-pay interest than has previously been seen in other indications.
“Our expectations are high in terms of what we expect for orforglipron in our launch,” Ilya Yuffa, executive VP of Lilly USA and Global Customer Capabilities, said on the earnings call. “We expect it to be market expansive and bring new people to therapy for obesity.”
Yuffa added that this isn’t Lilly’s first rodeo, and every launch in the obesity space benefits from the one before it. “In every launch in this space, you’re launching in a larger market and greater consumer and provider awareness,” Yuffa said. “We recognize that, and we look for learning from how we’ve launched previously.”
While Novo’s executives stressed that the pill version of Wegovy beat orforglipron in total weight loss, Kuster said that Lilly will be launching a product with no 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 said Lilly has now submitted orforglipron in 40 countries. Patrik Jonsson, executive VP of Lilly International, later clarified that the launch timeline for other countries will be mostly in the first half of 2027, although some may come sooner.
