In an era when medicine and metabolism have become inseparable from markets, Eli Lilly posted first-quarter results that speak to something larger than a single company's fortune: a society reckoning with obesity and chronic disease at scale, and willing to pay — or increasingly, to be covered — for new answers. Driven by its GLP-1 drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound, Lilly reported $19.8 billion in quarterly revenue, raised its full-year outlook by $2 billion, and now commands 60 percent of a market that did not meaningfully exist a decade ago. The story is not merely one of pharmaceutical success, b
Eli Lilly Crushes Earnings, Raises 2026 Outlook on GLP-1 Drug Surge
It's like our fifth or sixth quarter in a row posting really strong topline growth
Mark
How does a pharmaceutical company raise its profit guidance while prices for its main products are actually falling?
Mimi
Volume. Lilly is selling so many more doses of Mounjaro and Zepbound that the lower price per unit doesn't matter. They wrote 49 percent more prescriptions in the U.S. alone. It's a market that's still expanding rapidly.
Mark
But won't that volume growth eventually hit a ceiling?
Mimi
Probably. But Ricks is betting it won't for years. He thinks global GLP-1 patients will grow from 20 million to 30 million by the end of 2026. That's a 50 percent expansion in a single year. And that's before Medicare coverage kicks in.
Mark
What's the significance of Foundayo, the new pill?
Mimi
It removes a barrier. Injections work, but they're injections. A pill is easier, more private, less intimidating for some people. The fact that 80 percent of early Foundayo users are completely new to GLP-1s suggests there's a whole population that was waiting for a pill option.
Mark
Lilly controls 60 percent of the market. Is that sustainable?
Mimi
For now, yes. Novo Nordisk has the other 40 percent, but Lilly has the pill now and Novo doesn't yet. That's a real advantage. But the market is growing so fast that both companies can win simultaneously.
Mark
What about the pricing pressure Lilly mentioned?
Mimi
It's real, but Ricks seems to think it's a feature, not a bug. Lower prices mean more people can afford the drugs, which means more volume, which means more total revenue. It's a bet that the market is price-elastic—that demand will rise faster than prices fall.
Mark
And if he's wrong?
Mimi
Then Lilly's profit margins compress, and the stock stops rising. But the earnings call will tell you whether Wall Street believes him.
El Pulso
- Lilly's Q1 revenue surged 56% year-over-year to $19.8B, sending the stock up more than 10% and forcing Wall Street to recalibrate its assumptions about the ceiling of GLP-1 demand.
- Mounjaro and Zepbound are defying the usual pharmaceutical logic — prices are falling, yet prescription volumes are climbing so steeply that profits are doubling anyway.
- With 60% of the U.S. GLP-1 market secured against Novo Nordisk's 39%, Lilly is not merely winning a drug race but consolidating a near-duopoly over one of medicine's fastest-growing categories.
- The newly launched obesity pill Foundayo is drawing 1,000 new patients per day — 80% of them first-time GLP-1 users — before a single television advertisement has aired, signaling untapped organic demand.
- Pricing pressure from a Trump administration drug deal and Medicare's coming obesity coverage loom as twin forces that could simultaneously compress margins and dramatically expand the patient pool.
In an era when medicine and metabolism have become inseparable from markets, Eli Lilly posted first-quarter results that speak to something larger than a single company's fortune: a society reckoning with obesity and chronic disease at scale, and willing to pay — or increasingly, to be covered — for new answers. Driven by its GLP-1 drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound, Lilly reported $19.8 billion in quarterly revenue, raised its full-year outlook by $2 billion, and now commands 60 percent of a market that did not meaningfully exist a decade ago. The story is not merely one of pharmaceutical success, but of a structural shift in how millions of people relate to their own bodies — and how one company has, for now, positioned itself at the center of that shift.
Eli Lilly's first-quarter earnings arrived Thursday with the weight of a turning point. Revenue reached $19.8 billion — 56 percent above the same quarter a year prior — and earnings per share of $8.55 cleared Wall Street's bar with room to spare. The company raised its full-year revenue guidance by $2 billion, now targeting $82 to $85 billion, and lifted its adjusted profit outlook to $35.50–$37 per share. The stock climbed more than 10 percent.
The engine behind these numbers is a pair of drugs. Mounjaro, Lilly's diabetes treatment, generated $8.66 billion in quarterly revenue — a 125 percent year-over-year increase — while Zepbound, its weight-loss injection, brought in $4.16 billion in U.S. sales, up 80 percent. Both exceeded analyst forecasts. What makes the momentum unusual is that it persists even as per-unit prices decline; volume growth has been so dramatic that it absorbs the discount and then some. Lilly now holds 60 percent of the U.S. GLP-1 market, with Novo Nordisk holding most of the remainder.
CEO Dave Ricks noted the rarity of sustained top-line growth at Lilly's scale, pointing to five or six consecutive quarters of strong results. International revenue rose 81 percent to $7.7 billion as the company accelerated launches across Europe, China, and Brazil — markets where many patients pay out of pocket and where, Ricks said, the depth of consumer demand is only beginning to reveal itself.
Looking ahead, Lilly's newly approved obesity pill Foundayo launched in Q2 and is already drawing more than 1,000 new patients per day, with 80 percent of early adopters coming to GLP-1 therapy for the first time — not switching from injections. Ricks called the early uptake, achieved without television advertising, a sign of strong organic demand. Medicare coverage of obesity drugs is expected later in 2026, a development that could substantially widen the market. Pricing pressure from a federal drug deal remains a headwind, but Ricks argued that lower prices tend to accelerate prescription volumes — a bet that, so far, the numbers appear to support.
Eli Lilly's first-quarter results landed Thursday with the force of a pharmaceutical blockbuster. The company reported revenue of $19.8 billion—56 percent higher than the same quarter a year earlier—and earnings per share of $8.55, both figures that left Wall Street's expectations in the dust. The stock jumped more than 10 percent in afternoon trading. But the headline number that mattered most to investors was the one the company announced alongside those results: a $2 billion increase to its full-year revenue guidance, now pegged at $82 billion to $85 billion, paired with a raise in adjusted profit guidance to $35.50 to $37 per share.
Two drugs drove this surge. Mounjaro, Lilly's diabetes treatment, generated $8.66 billion in worldwide revenue for the quarter—a 125 percent jump from the year before—with $4.2 billion of that coming from U.S. sales alone. Zepbound, the company's weight-loss injection that hit the market roughly three years ago, pulled in $4.16 billion in U.S. revenue, up 80 percent year-over-year. Both drugs exceeded what Wall Street analysts had forecast. The momentum is particularly striking because it persists despite lower prices. In the U.S., Zepbound's realized price per unit has fallen, yet volume—the sheer number of prescriptions written—has surged so dramatically that it more than compensates for the discount.
Lilly now commands 60.1 percent of the U.S. market for GLP-1 drugs, the class of medications that includes both diabetes treatments and weight-loss injectables. Its nearest competitor, Novo Nordisk, holds 39.4 percent. CEO Dave Ricks emphasized the rarity of what his company has achieved in a Thursday interview with CNBC. "It's like our fifth or sixth quarter in a row posting really strong topline growth numbers," he said. "That's not usually something that pharmaceutical companies of our size do." The company's net income for the quarter reached $7.4 billion, more than double the $2.76 billion it earned in the same period a year earlier.
The growth is not confined to the United States. International revenue jumped 81 percent to $7.7 billion, driven by a 95 percent surge in volume. Ricks explained that Lilly had deliberately slowed its global rollout in late 2024 when it faced supply constraints, but the company is now in its third or fourth quarter of major launches across Europe, China, and Brazil. In these markets, many patients pay out of pocket, and Ricks said the company is seeing "the depth and breadth of the consumer market" as those launches gain traction. U.S. revenue climbed 43 percent to $12.1 billion, fueled by a 49 percent increase in prescription volume, though lower prices for Zepbound and another medication for psoriatic arthritis partially offset that gain.
The company's newly approved obesity pill, Foundayo, launched in the second quarter and therefore does not appear in Thursday's results. But Ricks said the drug is already showing early momentum. More than 20,000 people have started taking it in its first few weeks, with more than 1,000 beginning the drug each day. Notably, 80 percent of those patients are new to GLP-1 drugs altogether—they are not switching from an injection to a pill, but rather entering the market for the first time. Ricks attributed this organic demand partly to the fact that Lilly has not yet advertised Foundayo on television. "What we're seeing now is basically organic demand, which is really strong to us," he said.
The company faces headwinds ahead. Lilly expects pricing pressure from a drug pricing deal with the Trump administration and from lower cash-pay prices for Zepbound. Yet Ricks said he believes lower prices will actually accelerate prescription volumes in the U.S., and he estimated that global GLP-1 use will expand from approximately 20 million patients at the end of last year to 30 million by the end of 2026. Medicare coverage of obesity drugs is set to come online later this year, a development that could substantially expand the addressable market. For now, Lilly's dominance in the GLP-1 space appears secure, and the company's ability to grow revenue and profit simultaneously—even as prices fall—suggests the market for these drugs remains far from saturated.
Citas Notables
That's not usually something that pharmaceutical companies of our size do.— CEO Dave Ricks, on achieving strong topline growth for five or six consecutive quarters
What we're seeing now is basically organic demand, which is really strong to us.— CEO Dave Ricks, on early uptake of Foundayo without television advertising
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