Qatar Became Foundayo’s Sixth Market as Lilly Claimed an Edge Over Oral Semaglutide 25 mg
- Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health has approved Eli Lilly‘s once-daily oral GLP-1 for chronic weight management in adults with obesity, or overweight with at least one related condition, Lilly Gulf said on 27 September 2026. It is the first oral GLP-1 approved for obesity in Qatar and the drug’s sixth market worldwide.
- On 29 September at EASD, Lilly presented an indirect comparison in type 2 diabetes: Foundayo 17.2 mg produced 1.5% more weight loss (95% CI 0.2% to 2.7%) and a 0.3-point greater A1C reduction (95% CI 0.1 to 0.6) than oral semaglutide 25 mg at 52 weeks, drawing on the ACHIEVE-3 and PIONEER PLUS trials.
- In the head-to-head ACHIEVE-3 trial of 1,698 patients, Foundayo 17.2 mg cut A1C by 2.2% and weight by 9.2%, against 1.4% and 5.3% for oral semaglutide 14 mg. Oral semaglutide 25 mg is not approved in the US for type 2 diabetes; Novo Nordisk has applied.
- Foundayo is FDA-approved for obesity and still being studied in type 2 diabetes. Lilly’s Rachel Batterham said head-to-head trials give the best comparison, and that the results suggest Foundayo may deliver A1C and weight lowering similar to the 25 mg dose.
CI read
Two announcements, one strategy: approvals market by market, and data built to shape the comparison with a Novo dose that has not launched.
- The headline says greater; Lilly’s own executive says similar. Both upper confidence limits sit close to zero, at 0.2% for weight and 0.1 points for A1C. The fair reading is non-inferior to slightly better, from an indirect comparison, not a trial.
- Lilly is benchmarking against a dose Novo has not launched. ACHIEVE-3 beat the approved 14 mg dose head to head. By comparing with 25 mg now, Lilly frames Novo’s next dose before it reaches the US market.
- Six markets in six months. Since FDA approval on 1 April, Foundayo has reached six markets, and Lilly says it is Qatar’s first oral GLP-1 for obesity. The same day, Novo licensed a weekly oral from Hengrui, an answer that is years away while the daily-pill contest is happening now.
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