Doubts about a high-profile new product dampened investor enthusiasm for Eli Lilly (LLY 1.73%) stock on Friday. The giant pharmaceutical company didn't have a good trading session, with sell-offs driving its price down by almost 4% over the course of the day.
Tough pill to swallow?
The product in question is Eli Lilly's Foundayo, the company's first pill approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for weight loss. Hopes were high for the drug, particularly given the success of Zepbound, the obesity treatment administered by injection that's been a hot seller for the company.
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Foundayo might not be destined for similar success. Media reports indicated that the drug's initial sales are comparatively sluggish. Reuters, citing data from Iqvia Holdings provided to stock analysts, wrote that it was prescribed 3,707 times in the work week ended Friday, April 17.
Although that was well up from the 1,390 in the previous week -- its first, following FDA approval -- the numbers pale in comparison to its archrival. This is Novo Nordisk's Wegovy pill, the first-mover orally administered obesity treatment that earned its FDA green light last December. It clocked 18,410 prescriptions in its second week on the market.
Lilly previously said that Foundayo's weekly data might not be comprehensive. It added that the drug's performance might be "best interpreted over time rather than as a complete count."
NYSE: LLY
Key Data Points
One product of many
While that might be true, we should remember that Zepbound (also a second mover, following the FDA's historic approval for injectable Wegovy in June 2021) was a hot product out of the gate. So Foundayo's relatively low sales are justifiably concerning, and it's well worth monitoring the drug's trajectory over the coming weeks for signs of improvement.
Having said that, Lilly is a monster of a pharmaceutical company with a dizzying number of products. Yes, it's done well with Zepbound, but it's far from dependent on the closely scrutinized weight loss category. I wouldn't be so discouraged by Foundayo's early numbers, then.
