Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy head start on pills forces investors to rethink Eli Lilly's GLP-1 dominance

Still life of the new Wegovy semaglutide tablets on a white background. Its a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and .and physical activity. Michael Siluk | Universal Images Group | When the Wegovy pill launched in January, telehealth provider LifeMD said its business doubled almost overnight. LifeMD went from seeing between 300 and 400 new patients a day to 600 to 1,000 new patients a day, said CEO Justin Schreiber. He knew there would be demand, but that level of interest surprised him. "There's no question that the launch of oral medications has improved access," Schreiber said. Tens of thousands of people have started taking Novo Nordisk's Wegovy pill in the four months since it launched in the U.S., the majority of them new to the GLP-1 category. Investors will get a fresh look at the Wegovy pill's momentum when Novo reports first-quarter results on Wednesday. The launch has already forced investors to rethink the o pportunity in oral GLP-1s – and which company might win it. While obesity and diabetes market leader Eli Lilly launched its own pill, Foundayo, last month, early signs indicate its rollout has been more modest than the Wegovy pill's start. "We were all in this camp of Foundayo, Foundayo, Foundayo because Lilly was talking it up and we were also concerned about making enough peptide because Novo was still coming out of shortage," said BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan David Seigerman. …