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By Sriparna Roy<\/p>\n
April 24 (Reuters) – Eli Lilly’s newly launched weight-loss pill had a modest second week, analysts said on Friday, as competition with \u200cDanish rival Novo Nordisk heats up in the oral obesity drug market.<\/p>\n
The \u200cpill, launched earlier this month as Foundayo, was prescribed 3,707 times in the U.S. in the week \u200bended April 17, IQVIA data shared by Wall Street analysts showed, up from 1,390 in its debut week.<\/p>\n
Novo’s Wegovy pill, launched in January, had clocked 18,410 prescriptions in its second week and 3,071 in the first four days after launch.<\/p>\n
Analysts would have liked \u200cto see Foundayo’s second-week prescriptions \u2060closer to around 8,000 “to show that its relative spread to the oral Wegovy launch was at least being maintained,” said Deutsche \u2060Bank analyst James Shin.<\/p>\n
RBC Capital Markets analyst Trung Huynh said while comparisons close to launch “should be considered immaterial, Foundayo’s uptake this week is likely to be received negatively.”<\/p>\n
Lilly shares \u200bwere trading \u200bnearly 4% lower, while U.S.-listed Novo shares \u200bwere about 6% higher.<\/p>\n
Foundayo prescriptions, totaling \u200cjust 20% of what oral Wegovy achieved during its first full week, were “modest,” noted Truist analyst Srikripa Devarakonda.<\/p>\n
SLOWER RAMP<\/p>\n
Investors are closely watching the rollout as a key test of whether Lilly can gain market share from Novo, which has had a first-mover advantage in the oral weight-loss drug market.<\/p>\n
The prescription numbers represent a somewhat slower \u200cramp compared to oral Wegovy, said J.P. Morgan \u200banalyst Chris Schott, adding that this was not \u200bsurprising given Wegovy’s advantages in \u200btime-to-market and brand recognition.<\/p>\n
Foundayo was approved in the U.S. on April \u200c1, with prescriptions accepted immediately on \u200bLillyDirect, while shipping started \u200bon April 6. Broad availability through U.S. retail pharmacies and telehealth providers began on April 9.<\/p>\n
Lilly previously cautioned that early weekly figures would not be \u200bfully comprehensive, may not capture \u200cthe full breadth of pharmacy partners and would be “best interpreted over \u200btime rather than as a complete count.”<\/p>\n
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; \u200bEditing by Tasim Zahid and Jonathan Ananda)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n