April 30 (Reuters) - Eli Lilly raised its annual profit and revenue forecasts and posted better-than-expected first quarter on Thursday, on steady demand for its weight-loss and diabetes drugs Zepbound and Mounjaro, in its first results since launching oral GLP-1 pill Foundayo.
Investor expectations for Lilly are anchored around whether the U.S. drugmaker can keep translating demand for its obesity and diabetes drugs into revenue while navigating lower prices, government deals and the rollout of its weight-loss
pill.
It competes with Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk in the lucrative market for these treatments, known as GLP-1 agonists, which is expected to cross $150 billion in revenue in the next decade.
"2026 is off to a strong start," CEO David Ricks said in a statement, adding that he expects its recently launched oral obesity drug Foundayo to expand the number of people who can benefit from GLP-1s.
Shares of the Indianapolis-based company rose roughly 4% in premarket trading.
Lilly expects to earn $35.50 to $37.00 per share on an adjusted basis this year, compared to its prior view of $33.50 to $35 per share profit.
Analysts were expecting a profit of $34.55 per share for 2026, according to data compiled by LSEG.
For the first quarter, the U.S. drugmaker reported adjusted profit of $8.55 per share, way ahead of expectations of $6.66. This was primarily driven by an increase in volume across its U.S. and international markets, which helped offset lower realized prices, the company said.
Sales of Mounjaro came in at $8.7 billion, beating expectations by more than $1 billion. Weight-loss treatment Zepbound clocked in sales of $4.2 billion for the quarter, also ahead of estimates.
INVESTOR FOCUS ON FOUNDAYO Lilly's once-daily oral weight-loss drug, Foundayo, was launched earlier this month and was prescribed 3,707 times in the U.S. in the week ended April 17, below analysts' expectations closer to around 8,000. Investors are closely watching the rollout as a key test of whether Lilly can gain market share from rival Novo, which has had a first-mover advantage in the oral weight-loss drug market.
Novo was first to market in obesity with Wegovy, but Lilly has been gaining share since launching Zepbound in late 2023, helped by strong demand and clinical data showing greater weight loss than Wegovy.
The rivalry has moved beyond weekly injections into pills, which investors expect could broaden the market by reaching patients who are reluctant to take injectable weight-loss medicines.
(Reporting by Christy Santhosh and Mrinalika Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
