Booming sales for GLP-1RA drugs fuelled a 45% surge in Eli Lilly’s revenue for 2025, cementing the drugmaker’s dominant position in the obesity market.
Lilly’s total revenue reached $65.2bn for the full-year 2025, a significant increase from the $45bn recorded in 2024.
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Shares in Lilly jumped 7.1% to $1075.12 at market open on 4 February from a previous close of $1003.46. Share price continued to rise further to $1100 by 11.15am ET, a 9.62% increase on the 3 February close. Lilly’s market cap is fluctuating around the $1tn mark, becoming the first healthcare company to occupy such status.
As expected, Lilly’s glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) drugs, Mounjaro (tirzepatide) in type 2 diabetes and Zepbound (tirzepatide) in obesity, carried out much of the heavy lifting, although sales surpassed analyst expectations. Mounjaro generated approximately $23bn in 2025, while Zepbound contributed $13.5bn.
Although Lilly’s sales growth is largely a reflection of strengths in its incretin franchise, other products also contributed to wins. This included breast cancer therapy Verzenio (abemaciclib), which recorded $5.7bn in sales.
In a further boost to investors, there was no weak quarter in 2025 for Lilly, with performance maintained through the year’s end. Lilly’s revenue was up 43% in Q4 compared to the same period in 2024, along with being $1.3bn ahead of analyst consensus.
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By GlobalDataLooking ahead to 2026, Lilly forecasts that revenue will keep growing at a high rate, with the big pharma company anticipating revenue of between $80bn and $83bn. The obesity market is only continuing to grow, and Lilly could soon have its oral GLP-1RA candidate orforglipron approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Earlier this week, Lilly announced the last of four new manufacturing facilities it plans to construct in the US as part of a $27bn investment drive. At least three of these have been confirmed as production hubs for weight loss therapies such as orforglipron.
In a research note, Citi analysts commented that: “Mounjaro sales once again exceeded Wall Street expectations and, combined with orforglipron’s pending approval, primes 2026 for another knockout year led by the incretins franchise.”
The results marked a strong contrast to rival Novo Nordisk, which has seen its stronghold in the weight loss sector eroded in recent years. Despite being first-to-market with injectable GLP-1RAs, Novo has fallen behind Lilly in sales for the drugs.
The day before Lilly reported its 2025 financials, Novo warned that its sales could drop by as much as 13% in 2026. Novo will be pinning much of its hopes on oral Wegovy (semaglutide), which launched in January as the first GLP-1RA pill for obesity.
