Pharmaceutical Company
Appears in 10 stories
Launched Foundayo, expanding oral GLP-1 market
For two years, the most effective weight-loss drugs on the market required a weekly injection. That barrier is now falling. Eli Lilly began shipping Foundayo — the first oral GLP-1 weight-loss pill that can be taken any time of day without food or water restrictions — on April 6, 2026, just five days after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved it in a record 50-day review. Priced at $149 per month for self-pay patients and as low as $25 with commercial insurance, Foundayo undercuts the list price of injectable alternatives by roughly 85%.
Updated Apr 6
Launches first non-fasting oral GLP-1 for obesity, intensifying competition in weight loss market
For patients who gained severe, uncontrollable weight after brain tumor surgery—often as children—there has never been an approved medication. That changed on March 19, 2026, when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Imcivree (setmelanotide) for acquired hypothalamic obesity, a condition affecting roughly 10,000 Americans whose damaged hypothalamus makes diet and exercise essentially useless. In clinical trials, patients lost 18.4% more body mass than those on placebo over one year. Two weeks later, on April 1, the FDA approved Eli Lilly's Foundayo (orforglipron), the first GLP-1 pill taken without food restrictions, achieving 12.4% weight loss.
Updated Apr 1
Developing competing once-weekly insulin efsitora alfa
For 104 years, every insulin on the market has required at least one injection per day. On March 26, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Awiqli, a once-weekly basal insulin made by Novo Nordisk, for adults with type 2 diabetes — cutting the number of basal insulin injections from 365 to 52 per year.
Updated Mar 28
Manufacturer of Mounjaro and Zepbound; Novo Nordisk's primary GLP-1 competitor
More than 30 million Americans now take GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy to lose weight. A persistent concern has dogged the medications since their rise: that they burn through muscle along with fat, leaving patients weaker even as they get thinner. A study published in Cell Reports Medicine in March 2026 found that while GLP-1 drugs do reduce lean body mass, the rate of muscle loss is not disproportionate to what occurs with diet and exercise alone — and crucially, patients' actual strength remained unchanged.
Second-largest GLP-1 franchise; advancing oral formulation
The biggest knock against today's blockbuster weight-loss drugs is that they burn muscle along with fat — up to 40% of the weight a patient loses on semaglutide can be lean tissue like muscle and bone. A new class of therapies now entering clinical trials attacks obesity through entirely different biology, targeting genes and metabolic pathways that strip fat while leaving muscle intact. On March 26, 2026, Wave Life Sciences reported that a single injection of its RNA-silencing drug WVE-007 cut visceral fat by 14.3% over six months while patients actually gained 2.4% lean mass — a profile no existing obesity drug can match.
Updated Mar 26
Actively pursuing GLP-1 addiction trials
Drugs designed to control blood sugar and shrink waistlines may also quiet the cravings that drive addiction. A study of more than 600,000 United States veterans, published March 4 in The BMJ, found that people taking GLP-1 medications were 14 percent less likely to develop a new substance use disorder and, if they already had one, experienced 50 percent fewer substance-related deaths and 39 percent fewer overdoses.
Updated Mar 6
Reduced insulin prices by 70% in 2023
On January 1, 2026, two unprecedented insulin programs launched simultaneously: nonprofit Civica Rx began distributing insulin glargine pens for $55 per box, while California became the first state to sell its own CalRx-branded insulin at the same price point—both undercutting branded products by up to 90%. The coordinated launches mark the first major breach in a pricing fortress built by three pharmaceutical giants who control 90% of the U.S. insulin market. Unlike existing insulin, these products require no insurance forms, no rebates, no hidden markups. Just one transparent price available to anyone.
Updated Feb 10
Negotiating partner in BALANCE model
Medicare has been banned from covering weight loss drugs since 2003. CMS launched the BALANCE voluntary model in December 2025 to work around the law—negotiating $50-per-month access to Ozempic, Wegovy, and similar blockbusters for 10% of Medicare enrollees starting July 2026. The workaround: don't call it weight loss coverage, call it treatment for chronic disease with specific comorbidities. Manufacturer applications closed January 8, 2026, with negotiations continuing through February 28.
Updated Jan 14
Partner in diagnostic development and maker of Kisunla
For decades, diagnosing Alzheimer's meant either a $5,000 brain scan with radiation exposure or a painful spinal tap. In October 2025, the FDA cleared Roche's blood test for use in primary care—a simple blood draw that rules out Alzheimer's 97.9% of the time. It's the second blood test approved in five months, transforming a diagnosis that once required specialists and imaging centers into something your family doctor can order.
Updated Jan 9
Developing AK-OTOF gene therapy through acquired subsidiary
Children born profoundly deaf can now hear their parents' voices. A single injection of gene therapy into the inner ear has restored hearing in dozens of patients with genetic deafness, moving some forms of lifelong hearing loss from permanent disability into the treatable category. The effect is rapid—most patients recover hearing within weeks—and sustained over at least two years of follow-up.
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