Eli Lilly’s Oral GLP-1 Pill Scores Direct Win Over Novo Nordisk, Bolstering $80B+ Revenue Outlook
12.06.2026 - 16:52:21 | boerse-global.de
Eli Lilly has emerged victorious in a head-to-head Phase 3 showdown between its oral GLP-1 candidate Orforglipron and Novo Nordisk’s competing pill. Patients with type 2 diabetes taking Orforglipron achieved a 2.2 percent reduction in long-term blood sugar, compared with 1.4 percent for the Novo Nordisk treatment, while weight loss averaged 9.2 percent versus 5.3 percent. The win cements Lilly’s position in the fast-expanding market for convenient, non-injectable obesity therapies.
The company’s broader pipeline also showed strength. In the ATTAIN-1 and ATTAIN-2 studies, premenopausal women lost up to 14.4 percent of their body weight after 72 weeks on Orforglipron, and postmenopausal participants shed up to 14.1 percent. The drug, to be marketed as Foundayo, requires no fasting or dietary restrictions before administration—a practical edge that resonated with prescribers. Meanwhile, the late-stage candidate Retatrutide delivered an average weight loss of 15.3 percent in earlier trials.
These clinical wins come as Lilly’s financial performance draws fresh institutional interest. Parnassus Investments LLC boosted its stake by roughly 60.8 percent to over 1.01 million shares. In the first quarter of 2026, Eli Lilly posted earnings per share of $8.55, beating consensus by $1.58, on revenue of $19.80 billion. The company guided for full-year 2026 revenue between $80 billion and $83 billion—a roughly 45 percent jump from the prior year—and some reports have indicated a target as high as $85 billion as demand for drugs like Mounjaro and Zepbound accelerates.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Eli Lilly?
Not all insiders are holding. On June 10, Ilya Yuffa, executive vice president and president of Lilly USA, sold 2,500 shares at $1,150.77 each under a pre-arranged 10b5-1 trading plan, leaving him with about 29,800 shares directly. The sale came as the stock traded near €1,007, just 4 percent below its all-time high from June 8. The relative strength index sits at 70.4, technically in overbought territory but underpinned by fundamentals.
Lilly’s expansion is not limited to metabolic diseases. The company is pursuing additional approvals for its GLP-1 tablet and testing the drug in severe depression and sleep apnea. Since 2020, it has poured over $50 billion into U.S. production plants to support that growth. Novo Nordisk, by contrast, is cutting thousands of jobs, while its daily oral semaglutide pill became the first in Europe to win U.K. approval.
Still, risks linger. Several U.S. employers are reviewing whether to continue covering GLP-1 medications beyond 2027, and the market capitalization of roughly $1.09 trillion leaves little room for missteps. But with a direct victory over its closest rival and a pipeline stretching into new therapeutic territories, Eli Lilly is betting the oral GLP-1 era has only just begun.
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Eli Lilly Stock: New Analysis - 12 June
Fresh Eli Lilly information released. What's the impact for investors? Our latest independent report examines recent figures and market trends.
