Eli Lilly raises 2026 revenue guidance after $23 billion second quarter, details four-drug weight loss pipeline
INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 16. Second-quarter revenue at Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) reached $23 billion, a 48% increase from the prior-year period, and the company raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to between $85 billion and $87 billion, the company said. Zepbound, its weekly injectable weight loss drug, and Mounjaro, its diabetes therapy, together accounted for 65% of second-quarter revenue, according to the release.
Key takeaways
- Eli Lilly reported second-quarter revenue of $23 billion, a 48% increase from the prior-year period, with Zepbound and Mounjaro together making up 65% of that revenue.
- The company raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to between $85 billion and $87 billion, up from the prior range of $82 billion to $85 billion.
- Adjusted earnings per share reached $8.38, 33% above the comparable quarter a year earlier.
- Lilly detailed a four-drug weight loss pipeline: the approved oral medicine Foundayo, the phase 3-completed injectable retatrutide, the amylin-mimicking candidate eloralintide, and Zepbound.
- Eli Lilly's shares traded at 33.9 times forward earnings, versus an average of 18.5 times for the broader healthcare sector.
INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 16. Second-quarter revenue at Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) reached $23 billion, a 48% increase from the prior-year period, and the company raised its full-year 2026 revenue guidance to between $85 billion and $87 billion, the company said. Zepbound, its weekly injectable weight loss drug, and Mounjaro, its diabetes therapy, together accounted for 65% of second-quarter revenue, according to the release.
Adjusted earnings per share came in at $8.38, 33% above the comparable quarter a year earlier. The prior full-year revenue range had been $82 billion to $85 billion.
Four drugs, four patient profiles
Beyond Zepbound's commercial performance, Lilly has assembled a weight loss pipeline aimed at patients the injectable cannot reach. Its oral anti-obesity medicine Foundayo received regulatory approval in April. More than 80% of Foundayo prescriptions written since then have gone to patients who had not previously used a GLP-1 therapy, the company said. Lilly said the figure shows the drug has reached patients who would not have tried its other weight loss medicines.
Retatrutide, Lilly's next-generation injectable candidate, has completed phase 3 trials. Data the company has released show weight loss outcomes exceeding Zepbound's, along with reductions in A1C levels in patients with diabetes, improvement in obstructive sleep apnea, and relief from knee osteoarthritis pain, according to the company. Lilly has positioned retatrutide as an option for patients who need substantially more weight loss than Zepbound can produce or who carry serious obesity-related complications. The drug has not yet received regulatory approval, though Lilly said it has granted early access to patients over 18 who are ineligible for clinical trials, carry a diagnosis of refractory obesity, and have at least two serious or life-threatening obesity-related conditions.
Eloralintide, a fourth candidate, mimics the amylin hormone rather than acting on GLP-1 receptors. In a phase 2 study, the drug produced weight loss efficacy comparable to GLP-1 medicines with improved tolerability, Lilly reported. The company said the profile could draw patients who discontinue GLP-1 therapy because of gastrointestinal side effects.
Lilly is also investigating dosing schedules less frequent than once weekly, along with combination therapies for patients with obesity and conditions such as psoriatic arthritis, the company disclosed.
Eli Lilly's shares traded at 33.9 times forward earnings as of the release, compared with an average of 18.5 times for the broader healthcare sector.