Eli Lilly Says One-Third of New GLP-1 Pill Patients Choose Foundayo

One-third of new patients starting a GLP-1 pill are choosing Eli Lilly's Foundayo, CEO Dave Ricks told CNBC on Monday, a share he says is growing week over week as the company closes the gap with rival Novo Nordisk in the oral obesity market.

"We're confident long term" about Lilly's position in the pill segment, Ricks said in an exclusive interview, pointing to plans to launch Foundayo in more international markets in the coming months.

Ricks spoke from roughly 240 acres of land at Generation Park in Houston, Texas, the future site of a $6.5 billion Eli Lilly manufacturing facility. The company broke ground on the plant Monday, nearly a year after first announcing it, and expects operations to begin by 2030.

The Houston facility will most notably produce Foundayo, Lilly's closely watched GLP-1 pill for obesity, which entered the U.S. market in April. It will also manufacture active ingredients for Lilly's other small-molecule medicines across several disease areas, including cardiometabolic health, oncology, immunology and neuroscience.

The timing underscores the stakes in the obesity race. Novo Nordisk shares fell Monday after the company's long-term strategy failed to assuage investor concerns about its ability to compete with Lilly in obesity and diabetes. Novo beat Lilly to market with a pill, but Lilly said in August that it held about a 61% share of the overall market in the second quarter.

A $50 billion manufacturing bet

The Houston site is part of a string of investments Lilly has funneled into reshoring manufacturing across the U.S. over the last year. In February 2025, the company committed an additional $27 billion to build four new facilities, including the Houston plant, in part to build goodwill with President Donald Trump.

Lilly has framed manufacturing capacity as a competitive advantage over Novo that ranks alongside its drug portfolio. Since 2020, the company has committed more than $50 billion to expanding its manufacturing network, positioning itself to meet growing demand for obesity and diabetes treatments while supporting future product launches.

Foundayo's early traction

Demand for Foundayo is rising in the U.S. The pill booked $98 million in sales in the second quarter, its first three-month period on the market, Lilly said in August.

Medicare's new landmark coverage of obesity drugs, which began in July, is expected to widen access to the pill and to Lilly's blockbuster weight-loss injection Zepbound.

With the Houston plant not operational until 2030, Lilly's near-term ability to hold and grow its 61% market share will depend on existing capacity — but the company is betting that scale in manufacturing, not just drug launches, decides the obesity war.