Bahrain Licensed Foundayo Six Months After the FDA as Lilly Takes Its Oral GLP-1 Global

Bahrain’s National Health Regulatory Authority has licensed Foundayo (orforglipron), Eli Lilly‘s once-daily oral GLP-1 for obesity, for pharmacy dispensing in line with medical guidelines, the Daily Tribune reported on 25 September 2026.
The FDA approved Foundayo on 1 April 2026, 50 days after filing, under a Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher. Lilly launched it in the US in the second quarter and has filed orforglipron for obesity or type 2 diabetes in more than 40 countries, saying it will launch shortly after each approval.
Foundayo is a small molecule that can be taken at any time without food or water restrictions. Novo Nordisk’s oral Wegovy, a peptide, was approved in the US in December 2025 and launched in January 2026.
A Bahraini physician quoted by the paper said injectables such as Mounjaro and Wegovy generally produce greater weight loss, while the tablet suits patients uncomfortable with needles.

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Bahrain is small. The move matters as evidence of the global rollout Lilly argued a small molecule would allow.

Scale is the stated strategy. At the US approval, chief executive David Ricks said Foundayo’s manufacturability would let Lilly launch globally from the start, while oral Wegovy was effectively available only in the US. Each ex-US licence tests that claim against a peptide rival still scaling production.
Gulf pricing sits outside Lilly’s US deal. Lilly’s HHS agreement excludes GLP-1s from its Medicaid MFN covered products and benchmarks MFN prices against eight countries: Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Switzerland and the UK. Bahrain is in neither, so its price does not feed back into US obligations.
The efficacy argument favours Novo. In separate trials, the Wegovy pill showed about 16.6% average weight loss against about 12.4% for orforglipron among patients who stayed on treatment, with no head-to-head study. Lilly is selling convenience and supply; Novo is selling magnitude.