More than 20,000 people are taking Eli Lilly's weight loss pill Foundayo, CEO says

more than 20,000 people have started taking eli lilly's glp-1 pill foundayo in its first few weeks on the market, ceo dave ricks told cnbc on thursday. over 1,000 people are starting the drug per day. the fda approved the once-daily pill earlier this month, making it the second oral glp-1 behind novo nordisk's wegovy pill. ricks said more than 80% of people taking foundayo are new to glp-1s. he contrasted the launch against zepbound and novo's oral pill, which both had existing brand recognition. "this is going to play out over quarters, not days," he said. foundayo wasn't included in lilly's q1 earnings, which beat expectations. sales of mounjaro and zepbound spiked 125% and 80% in the quarter. lilly held a 60.1% share of the u.s. obesity and diabetes drug market in q1, versus 39.4% for novo nordisk.