Eli Lilly launches oral weight-loss drug Foundayo in UK

Aug 24 (Reuters) – Eli Lilly has launched its pill, Foundayo, in the UK for weight management and type 2 diabetes, it said on Monday, making Britain the first country in Europe where the oral treatment is available.

• The pill, known chemically as orforglipron, will be available via private prescription after Britain’s medicines regulator authorised the drug on August 10, making it the second GLP-1 tablet to be launched in the UK after Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill.

• England’s health cost-effectiveness watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, must assess the pill before it can become available on the state-run National Health Service.

• Lilly said it was working with NICE during the agency’s assessment of Foundayo for weight management access.

• A NICE spokesperson said that the agency has requested further information on Foundayo following its first committee meeting, with no date set for a second review. The agency reiterated that Novo was yet to make an evidence submission for Wegovy pill.

• Until then, patients can access the pill through private providers. Foundayo will likely be priced between £100 and £120 ($136 and $164), lower than Lilly’s Mounjaro injection’s £330 price for a month’s supply, the company said.

• Private providers in the UK price the Wegovy weight-loss pill from £74 to £129 per month for initial low doses, with most starting rates tied to multi-month subscription plans. Prices for patients go up as they move to higher doses of the pill.

• In the U.S., self-pay prices for the Wegovy pill and Foundayo start at $149 per month, and can rise up to $299 and $349 respectively for higher doses. A new U.S. Medicare pilot offers selective access to the oral drugs for $50 a month.

• Foundayo remains under review in the European Union, while Novo’s Wegovy pill has won a positive recommendation from the European Medicines Agency, with a final decision from the European Commission pending.

($1 = 0.7338 pounds)

(Reporting by Raechel Thankam Job in Bengaluru and Bhanvi Satija in London; Editing by Leroy Leo and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)