IQVIA prescription data is the standard read on US retail-pharmacy peptide volumes. Coverage on this site has leaned on IQVIA for launch-tracker data — the Foundayo (orforglipron) launch tracker stepped from 3,707 (Week 2) to 5,612 (Week 3) to 7,335 (Week 4) prescriptions in successive May client notes from Citi — and for ongoing GLP-1 share movements between branded and oral formulations. The May 8 Citi note also pegged Wegovy at 440,410 prescriptions in the week ending May 1 with oral semaglutide accounting for 33% of all Novo obesity referrals. Earlier in Q1, IQVIA showed Wegovy pill at 721,000 cumulative US prescriptions — about 450,000 of those on the cheapest 1.5 mg starter dose at $149/month, the central data point in the Reuters May 5 'price war test' framing.
Where IQVIA data falls short: it doesn't capture the compounded-peptide channel through 503A pharmacies and telehealth platforms, which has been a meaningful share of the post-shortage peptide economy. NovoCare's direct-to-consumer pharmacy and Lilly's LillyDirect also sit outside the standard retail pull, and Foundayo's Week 3 channel mix was 45% LillyDirect / 35% telehealth / 20% retail.
Stories here cover IQVIA-sourced data and the prescription-tracker readouts. See #real-world-evidence, #foundayo, and #wegovy-pill.
In its fourth commercial week (April 27–May 1), Eli Lilly's Foundayo (orforglipron) recorded 7,335 prescriptions per IQVIA, Citi told clients May 8, calling the early launch 'off to a solid start' and modeling $146M in Q2 revenue and $1.6B for full-year 2026. Citi flagged that IQVIA captures retail and partial telehealth data but likely understates Lilly Direct and the 12+ telehealth firms representing roughly 35% of launch volume; Lilly executives have cited 20,000 patients now on Foundayo. For comparison, Citi's same note pegged Wegovy pill at 440,410 prescriptions in the week ending May 1, with oral semaglutide accounting for 33% of all Novo obesity referrals.
Novo Nordisk reported Q1 2026 results May 6: net sales of DKK 96.82B (+24% YoY) and operating profit of DKK 59.62B (+54%). The Wegovy pill drove the print with DKK 2.26B (~$354M) in Q1 sales — almost double the DKK 1.16B analyst consensus — on roughly 1.3 million Q1 prescriptions and more than 2 million cumulative US prescriptions since the January 5 launch. Injectable Wegovy sales rose 12% YoY to DKK 18.2B. Ozempic sales fell 8% YoY but came in above expectations. The company tightened full-year guidance to a 4–12% sales-and-operating-profit decline at constant exchange rates, narrower than the prior 5–13% range. NVO US-listed shares rose roughly 6% on the print.
Reuters reported May 5 that Novo Nordisk's Wegovy pill posted roughly 721,000 US prescriptions in Q1 per IQVIA, beating analyst expectations on volume but raising margin questions: about 450,000 of those scripts were for the cheapest 1.5 mg starter dose at $149/month. Lilly's Foundayo approval in early April closed Novo's window as the only oral obesity pill, and Wegovy injection prices have fallen rapidly amid intensifying competition. The Danish company's market value has shed more than $400 billion from its 2024 peak. Wednesday's Q1 print (May 6, 7:30 CEST) is the test: investors are watching whether Novo holds February's guidance of a 5–13% sales and operating-profit decline at constant exchange rates, and whether direct-to-consumer NovoCare and the WW Med+ + GoodRx channels can offset price pressure.
IQVIA data cited by Deutsche Bank analysts and Pharmaphorum showed Novo Nordisk's Wegovy pill at roughly 113,354 prescriptions in its most recent reported week, up from 105,366 the week prior. That puts Novo's January-launched oral semaglutide more than 20× ahead of Lilly's Foundayo Week 3 reading of 5,612, and the gap is from US retail-channel data alone — NovoCare Pharmacy direct-to-consumer volumes are additional. Lilly executives have asked analysts to wait 8–12 weeks for a clearer read, but the early Foundayo-versus-Wegovy-pill comparison continues to favor Novo on raw volume.
Fierce Pharma's Oral GLP-1 Tracker reported May 1 that Eli Lilly's Foundayo (orforglipron) reached 5,612 prescriptions in the week ending April 24 — its third full commercial week — up roughly 51% from Week 2's 3,707 scripts but still behind the Wegovy pill's comparable third-week run. RBC and other analysts continue to caution that 8–12 weeks of data are needed to read commercial trajectory through pharmacy-fill noise. On the Q1 earnings call, Lilly USA's Ilya Yuffa said roughly 20,000 patients are now on the drug for obesity or overweight, calling the early launch 'encouraging.'
Eli Lilly shares fell April 24 after the latest weekly prescription data for Foundayo showed 3,707 scripts for the week ending April 17 — behind analyst expectations. For comparison, Novo's Wegovy pill reached 18,410 prescriptions in its second week after a January launch. RBC Capital Markets analyst Trung Huynh said early comparisons should be viewed cautiously but acknowledged the uptake is 'likely to be received negatively.' Fierce Pharma launched a weekly Oral GLP-1 Tracker to follow Foundayo and Wegovy pill head-to-head.
IQVIA tracking data reported April 21 showed Eli Lilly's newly-launched oral GLP-1 Foundayo (orforglipron) drew 1,390 prescriptions in its first full week (April 6-10), roughly 45% of the 3,071 Wegovy pill scripts in Novo Nordisk's launch week in January. Analyst consensus requires Foundayo to hit about 5.4 million prescriptions from April-December to generate $1.7 billion in 2026 revenue — a target that looks challenging at the current trajectory.