Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks told CNBC on Monday that one-third of new GLP-1 pill patients are taking the drugmaker’s Foundayo, as the company tries to catch up to a lead in the space established by rival Novo.
In an exclusive interview, he said the company’s share of the oral market is growing week over week.
“We’re confident long term” about Lilly’s place in the pill segment, Ricks said, especially as the company plans to launch Foundayo in more international markets in the coming months.
Ricks spoke with CNBC in front of the roughly 240 acres of land that will eventually host Lilly’s new $6.5 billion manufacturing facility at Generation Park in Houston, Texas. The company on Monday broke ground on the upcoming site nearly a year after first announcing it, and said it expects the plant to be operational by 2030.
Eli Lilly Chair and CEO Dave Ricks speaks during a press conference in Houston, Texas, Sept. 23, 2025.
Antranik Tavitian | Reuters
The facility will most notably produce Lilly’s closely watched GLP-1 pill for obesity, Foundayo, which entered the U.S. market in April.
But the plant will be responsible for manufacturing the active ingredients for Lilly’s other small-molecule medicines across several disease areas, such as cardiometabolic health, oncology, immunology and neuroscience.
His comments and the groundbreaking came as Novo shares fell after the company’s long-term strategy failed to assuage investor concerns about its ability to compete with Lilly in the obesity and diabetes market. While Novo beat Lilly to releasing a pill, Lilly said in August that it held about a 61% share in the overall market in the second quarter.
The production site is part of a string of new investments Lilly has funneled into reshoring manufacturing across the U.S. over the last year. In February 2025, Lilly committed to spending an additional $27 billion to build four new facilities, including the Houston site, in part to build goodwill with President Donald Trump.
But Lilly has also emphasized manufacturing capacity as a key competitive advantage against its main rival Novo alongside its drug portfolio. Since 2020, the company has committed more than $50 billion to expanding its manufacturing network, positioning itself to meet growing demand for obesity and diabetes treatments while supporting future product launches.
Demand for Foundayo is rising in the U.S. The company said in August that the pill booked $98 million in sales for the second quarter — its first three-month period on the market. Medicare’s new landmark coverage of obesity drugs, which began in July, is expected to open up more access to the pill and Lilly’s blockbuster weight loss drug Zepbound.
