Eli Lilly Raises Full-Year Guidance amid Strong Sales of Weight Loss and Diabetes Drugs

US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly announced its first-quarter financial results, which greatly exceeded Wall Street expectations, and raised its full-year revenue guidance by $2 billion, mainly driven by the continued strong demand for its weight loss drug Zepbound and diabetes drug Mounjaro.

Eli Lilly achieved a revenue of $19.8 billion in the first quarter, a 56% year-on-year increase, significantly exceeding analysts' expected $17.62 billion. The adjusted earnings per share were $8.55, far higher than the market expectation of $6.66. The company's net profit for the quarter reached $7.4 billion, more than double the $2.76 billion from the same period last year.

The diabetes drug Mounjaro recorded sales of $8.66 billion in the quarter, a 125% year-on-year increase, exceeding the analysts' expectation of $7.26 billion. The weight loss drug Zepbound contributed $4.16 billion in revenue in the US market, a 80% year-on-year increase, also exceeding the market expectation of $4.04 billion.

It is worth noting that the volume growth of the two drugs has been achieved against the backdrop of a reduction in the actual selling price of the products, reflecting the strong market demand.

Based on the strong momentum of demand, Eli Lilly has raised its full-year revenue expectation for 2026 from the previous range of $80 billion to $83 billion to $82 billion to $85 billion, and the adjusted earnings per share expectation has also been raised from $33.50 to $35 to $35.50 to $37.00.

Eli Lilly's newly approved GLP-1 oral weight loss drug Foundayo has been launched in the second quarter, so its sales data has not been included in this financial report. However, the drug's market performance is expected to be the focus of the earnings call.

Analysts at Leerink Partners pointed out that initial prescription data shows the initial performance of the oral weight loss drug Foundayo is "relatively moderate," and faces competitive pressure from Novo Nordisk's Wegovy oral version.

Eli Lilly CEO Dave Ricks recently stated that the price reduction strategy is expected to further drive the growth of prescriptions in the US market, and estimates that the number of people using global GLP-1 drugs will increase from about 20 million at the end of last year to 30 million by the end of 2026. However, the company also faces certain pricing pressures, including the drug pricing agreement with the Trump administration and the reduction of cash payment prices for the weight loss drug Zepbound, among other factors.