Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks projects weight-loss drugs will reach only about 50 percent of eligible patients at peak adoption. Currently, just 1 in 10 overweight or obese people use GLP-1 medications. Ricks compared this ceiling to statins, where 40 to 50 percent of patients who should take them actually do. Healthcare system complexities and financial constraints will prevent universal access. Lilly's new Foundayo pill received 1,390 prescriptions in its first US week, trailing Novo Nordisk's Wegovy at 3,071 prescriptions in four days. The CEO acknowledged that scaling production to treat 500 million people globally would require a twentyfold increase from current 21 to 22 million patients, a process that will take considerable time and investment with minimal efficiency gains remaining.
