Lilly's revenue soars 48%, driven by demand for its GLP-1s

By Jaimy Lee

Mounjaro sales led the drugmaker's stellar performance in the second quarter, bringing in $9.9 billion

Sales of Eli Lilly's GLP-1 drugs like Mounjaro soared in the second quarter.

Eli Lilly, the American drug giant, had another record-breaking quarter.

The weight-loss injection Zepbound saw sales soar 46% in the second quarter to $4.9 billion. The FactSet consensus was for $4.7 billion. Mounjaro, the same drug but approved for Type 2 diabetes, brought in $9.9 billion in revenue, against a FactSet estimate of $8.9 billion. Mounjaro is the world's top-selling drug.

Lilly's stock (LLY) closed 4.8% higher on Wednesday.

"[Lilly]crushes expectations," wrote RBC Capital Markets analyst Trung Huynh, describing the company's second-quarter performance to investors.

Foundayo, its new GLP-1 pill, brought in $98 million in sales in its first full quarter since launching in April, coming in lower than the FactSet consensus of $103 million. Lilly has said for months that it expects most of Foundayo's pickup to occur outside the U.S. It's now approved in Mexico, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Novo Nordisk (DK:NOVO.B) (NVO), which launched the Wegovy pill in January, and Lilly are competing to lead the GLP-1 pill market.

Lilly's success over Novo in the broader GLP-1 market was reinforced this week by the companies' latest quarterly results, which sent the stocks of the drugmakers in opposite directions.

The hugely popular Wegovy pill had about $500 million in sales in the second quarter, though the pill's revenue came in slightly lower than the FactSet consensus, according to results released Tuesday. Novo's U.S.-listed stock tumbled, closing 6% lower on Tuesday, even after the company announced an improved outlook for the year.

Lilly's newest GLP-1s, including Zepbound/Mounjaro and Foundayo, make up 65% of its sales - and about half of those prescriptions are for cash-paying customers.

Lilly is also gearing up to expand its weight-loss options. It plans to submit retatrutide, a weight-loss injection drug that helps people lose up to 28% of their body weight at the highest dose, to U.S. regulators in the first quarter of 2027, aiming for approval later that year or in early 2028.

Lilly's total revenue climbed 48% to $23 billion, up from $15.6 billion in the same three months a year ago, and handily beating a FactSet estimate of $20.7 billion.

Driven by Americans' continued demand for weight-loss drugs, the Indianapolis-based drugmaker has grown fast. Its revenue has more than doubled since the second quarter of 2024, when it reported $11.3 billion in sales.

Lilly has been putting its cash to use. In the second quarter alone, the drugmaker paid $3.3 billion upfront for the in vivo cell-therapy company Kelonia Therapeutics and $2.8 billion for psychedelics company AtaiBeckley. It even made an undisclosed investment in Oura, the maker of popular health-tracking rings that has filed to go public.

Volume versus pricing

Much of Lilly's GLP-1 growth is fueled by volume of prescriptions, rather than pricing. Volume has soared 60% the last two quarters, according to Lilly Chief Financial Officer Lucas Montarce, as it lowered prices of its GLP-1.

"We said always that we expect to see a low- to mid-teens price erosion this year because of this ramp of access that we were providing," he told MarketWatch.

Access to GLP-1s, at least for people willing to pay in cash, has significantly expanded this year. Medicare beneficiaries now have access to less costly GLP-1s for weight loss for the first time, and Lilly "revamped" a deal with CVS Health (CVS), which operates a pharmacy chain and one of the largest health insurers in the U.S., to help patients more easily access Zepbound and Foundayo. CVS announced the deal on Wednesday.

Net income came in at $7.1 billion, against a FactSet estimate of $5.4 billion. Adjusted earnings per share were $8.38, against the FactSet estimate of $6.01.

The company increased its guidance for the year, saying it expects revenue to fall between $85.0 billion and $87 billion. That's up from the range of $82 billion to $85 billion it previously guided for.

Lilly's stock, which has been hitting record highs this summer, is up 8.3% so far this year.

-Jaimy Lee

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08-05-26 1645ET