LLY Stock Gains As CEO Says Foundayo Wins One-Third of New GLP-1 Pill Starts, Breaks Ground On $6.5B Houston Plant

• Foundayo reached U.S. pharmacies in April. 
• In its first full quarter, the drug booked $98 million in sales.
• Ricks said the company is “confident long-term” about its position in pills.

Eli Lilly & Company (LLY) broke ground at a new facility in Houston on Monday as it builds more factory capacity for Foundayo, its newly launched obesity pill, while it seeks to wrest market share from rival Novo Nordisk (NVO) in the oral obesity drug market.  

Chair and CEO Dave Ricks told CNBC that about one-third of new patients starting a GLP-1 tablet are now on Foundayo, and that Lilly’s share of that oral market is still rising week by week.

Foundayo reached U.S. pharmacies in April. In its first full quarter, the drug booked $98 million in sales. Novo’s competing Wegovy pill logged about $494–$497 million in sales in the same period.

Lilly now plans additional international launches in the coming months. Ricks said the company is “confident long-term” about its position in pills.

LLY stock was up 1% at the time of writing.

A Factory For Pills, Not Just Shots

On a roughly 240-acre site at Generation Park in Houston, Lilly broke ground on Monday on a $6.5 billion plant expected to start running in 2030. The site will make Foundayo and active ingredients for other small-molecule drugs in cardiometabolic disease, cancer, immunology and neuroscience as well.

The project sits inside a much larger U.S. buildout. In February 2025, Lilly pledged another $27 billion for four plants, including Houston, as it pushed more production back onto American soil.

Why The Pill Matters To Lilly

Foundayo, or orforglipron, is a once-daily, non-peptide GLP-1 receptor agonist. Unlike peptide tablets, it can be taken without fasting or water rules. It extends Lilly’s franchise beyond injectables such as Zepbound, the company’s blockbuster obesity shot, to patients who prefer a tablet.

Medicare’s new obesity-drug coverage, which started in July, is expected to widen access to both Foundayo and Zepbound.

Novo Nordisk still holds the early lead in oral GLP-1s with its Wegovy pill, approved months before Foundayo. Lilly is trying to catch up.

How Did LLY Retail Traders React?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around LLY stayed within bearish territory over the past 24 hours, while message volume stayed at normal levels.

LLY stock has gained 8% year-to-date. 

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