Orforglipron price: what Foundayo costs, and what Canada will pay

That gap is the whole story of this page. We lay out what Americans pay today, dose by dose, with the conditions Lilly attaches. Then we walk through how a Canadian price gets built, and what Canadians already pay for the GLP-1 drugs that are on our shelves. If you want the wider picture first, our Canadian orforglipron tracker keeps the regulatory status current.

Orforglipron price in the US, by dose

Lilly publishes two self-pay figures for most strengths: a regular price and a lower offer price that applies for now. Here is the full ladder, taken from Lilly's own Foundayo coverage and savings terms.

United States prices, shown because no Canadian price exists yet. Orforglipron is not authorised for sale in Canada, so these figures are a guide to what Lilly charges in its first market, not a forecast of a Canadian price. Canadian pricing is set after a Notice of Compliance and a separate reimbursement process, and has historically differed from US pricing on every GLP-1.

Two conditions behind the lower prices

The offer column is not permanent. Lilly says the cuts on the 2.5 mg and 5.5 mg tablets are temporary and run to December 31, 2026, which is also when the savings card itself expires. After that date, assume the regular column applies unless Lilly renews the deal.

The top two doses carry a second string. You get the US$299 price on your first purchase of 14.5 mg or 17.2 mg, and you keep it only if each refill happens within 45 days of the last delivery. Miss that window and the refill reverts to US$349. Lilly also notes that taxes and fees may be added.

What a first year of Foundayo costs

Most headlines lead with US$149. That is the 0.8 mg starting tablet, and nobody stays on it. A fairer test of orforglipron cost is a full year that follows the dose steps upward to a maintenance strength.

Treat this as an illustration, not a quote. Your prescriber may move you up faster or slower, or hold you at a lower maintenance dose. Still, the shape holds: a year of Foundayo costs far more than twelve times the advertised starting price. For comparison, twelve months at the US$649 list price would come to US$7,788.

List price vs self-pay vs insured price

Three numbers get called "the Foundayo price" in US coverage, and they sit far apart. Let's break them down.

• List price: US$649 for 30 tablets. Wholesale acquisition cost, published by Lilly itself rather than inferred from trade press. Almost nobody pays it. Lilly's wholesale cost sheet shows the same figure for all six strengths, from 0.8 mg to 17.2 mg, and confirms there is no generic in the class.
• Self-pay: US$149 to US$349. What Lilly charges people paying cash through LillyDirect and other pharmacies, set out in the table above.
• Insured: as low as US$25. Requires commercial insurance. Savings are capped at $100 a month and $1,000 a year, so the card runs out after ten fills. Anyone on Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE or VA coverage is excluded.

The Foundayo savings card, read closely

The US$25 figure is real, but it comes with fine print. Your commercial plan has to cover Foundayo in the first place. Lilly then caps its help at US$100 per one-month fill and US$1,000 per calendar year, and the card works for at most 10 fills a year. If your plan charges a high copay, the card may cover only part of it.

If your commercial plan does not cover Foundayo, the card falls back to the self-pay ladder, with a maximum saving of US$520 a month on the lowest doses and US$370 on the highest. Either way, you must live in the United States or Puerto Rico and be 18 or older. Our take: the card is generous for insured Americans in year one, and it tells Canadians nothing about what they will pay.

Foundayo cost with Medicare and Medicaid

Government coverage in the US works on separate rules. Lilly's savings card excludes anyone enrolled in Medicare, Medicare Part D, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, TRICARE, VA coverage or a state drug assistance programme.

Medicare patients have their own route. Under the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, a temporary demonstration run by CMS from July 1, 2026 to December 31, 2027, eligible Part D enrollees pay a US$50 copay. CMS says the Part D deductible does not apply, the copay does not count toward the annual out-of-pocket total, and the low-income subsidy does not reduce it.

KFF Health News reports that the Bridge covers Foundayo, both forms of Wegovy and the Zepbound KwikPen, and that the flat copay does not rise with the dose. Eligibility depends on body mass index and certain health conditions. There is a catch: the US$50 price applies to weight management use, and people taking a GLP-1 for an approved medical condition such as type 2 diabetes go back through their regular Part D plan.

How the orforglipron price compares with injectable GLP-1s

Here is where the pill stands against the injections on US cash prices. The non-Foundayo figures come from KFF Health News reporting in July 2026, before the Medicare Bridge began.

So the orforglipron price is low for the class, but not alone at the bottom. The Wegovy pill competes on almost the same terms. Self-pay prices in this market have moved several times in 2026, so check the date on any figure you read, including ours.

Does a pill cost less to make?

Yes, and be careful what you read into that. Orforglipron is a small molecule made by chemical synthesis, while semaglutide and tirzepatide are peptides. It also ships as a tablet with no refrigerated chain and no injection pen. That lowers Lilly's cost of goods against an injectable.

Manufacturing cost is not retail price, though. Prices reflect what payers will accept and what they negotiate. A cheaper process gives Lilly room to compete on price and to supply at scale without the shortages injectables went through. We think that matters more for supply than for your receipt.

How a Canadian orforglipron price gets set

No Canadian price exists yet, and none can until the drug is authorised. Health Canada's list of submissions under review shows one new drug submission for orforglipron from Eli Lilly Canada, accepted in January 2026 and run as an aligned review alongside Canada's Drug Agency. No Notice of Compliance has been issued. Once one is, four separate bodies shape what a Canadian pays. Here is why the US numbers above will not carry over.

Step 1: The PMPRB ceiling check

The Patented Medicine Prices Review Board watches list prices of patented drugs. Its own release is blunt: "The PMPRB does not set drug prices in Canada." Under guidelines in force since January 1, 2026, staff screen a Canadian list price against prices in eleven comparator countries and flag it for an in-depth review if it looks high.

The comparator list matters for Foundayo. Federal regulations name Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The United States is not on it. That is one reason Canadian list prices for patented drugs tend to land below US list prices.

Step 2: Canada's Drug Agency reimbursement review

CDA-AMC advises public drug plans on whether to pay for a drug, for whom, and at what price. Because the Health Canada decision is still pending, it runs these files ahead of authorisation: an orforglipron weight management review opened in April 2026 and a type 2 diabetes review in May 2026. A review ends with a recommendation, and on GLP-1s those recommendations often come with a price condition attached.

Look at the precedents. CDA-AMC said Wegovy did not offer good value at its list price and that a 67% price cut would be needed to meet its cost-effectiveness threshold for adults with obesity and heart disease. Its August 2026 Zepbound recommendation also called for a price reduction and limited coverage to adults with a BMI of 27 or more and prediabetes.

Step 3: pCPA negotiation and provincial formularies

After a positive review, the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance negotiates on behalf of the public plans. It aims to wrap up talks within 90 business days, though it warns many things can stretch that. A deal ends in a letter of intent, and each province then signs its own listing agreement and decides whether to add the drug to its formulary.

Step 4: Private insurance

Most working Canadians get drug coverage through an employer plan, and private insurers make their own calls, plan by plan. That is where many people will first learn their real Foundayo cost. Our Foundayo in Canada page tracks the coverage outlook for public and private plans as it develops.

What Canadians pay for approved GLP-1s today

You cannot price Foundayo in Canada yet, but you can see the neighbourhood it will move into. The figures below are the manufacturers' submitted prices from CDA-AMC reviews, in Canadian dollars. They are list prices to public plans, so pharmacy markups and dispensing fees come on top, and some may have changed since the review.

Two things stand out. First, the Canadian list prices for these injections run well under the US list prices for the same drugs. Second, the only oral GLP-1 on sale here, Rybelsus, costs less per year than the weight-loss injections. Our Foundayo vs Rybelsus comparison covers how the two pills differ beyond price.

Our take: when a Canadian orforglipron price does appear, expect it to be judged against Wegovy and Zepbound on these numbers, not against the US Foundayo price. That is how CDA-AMC frames its reviews. We would not bet on a specific figure, and we will not print one until Lilly or a public payer does.

Is buying Foundayo in the US cheaper for Canadians?

On paper, maybe. In real life, it is harder than the sticker suggests. The lowest US prices come through Lilly's savings terms, and those terms require US or Puerto Rico residence. You would also need a US prescriber, pay in US dollars after exchange, and cover the cost of a US appointment.

Then there is the border. Health Canada's personal importation guidance sets rules on bringing prescription drugs home, and an unauthorised product raises extra questions. We cover the legal routes, including the Special Access Program and clinical trials, in our guide on how to get Foundayo from Canada. Please do not buy from online sellers offering orforglipron without a prescription.

How we keep these prices current

Every Foundayo figure on this page comes from one shared data record, so the tables, the FAQ and our other pages cannot drift apart. We cite Lilly's own documents for each number and cross-check them against a second public listing. Our price sourcing methodology explains which documents we use and why we refuse to convert US prices into a Canadian estimate.

Lilly's current offers end on December 31, 2026, and we recheck before then. The day a Canadian price exists, it will appear here labelled as Canadian, kept apart from the US figures. Until then, the honest answer on the orforglipron price in Canada is that there isn't one. The orforglipron approval timeline shows how far the Canadian review has come.