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.
