The news: Eli Lilly’s stock is trading down on Thursday morning as clinical results of its experimental obesity pill fell short of Wall Street expectations. However, Lilly raised its 2025 guidance, driven by booming sales of its GLP-1 drugs Zepbound and Mounjaro.

• Both blockbuster GLP-1s outperformed in Q2: Zepbound sales are up 172% year over year, and Mounjaro’s are up 68%.
• The two combined to generate nearly $8.6 billion in Q2 revenues.

Our first take: The market battle between Lilly and rival Novo Nordisk pushes forward. Novo missed its Q2 earnings, but gained a boost today due to taking a temporary lead in the oral GLP-1 race. Lilly has the edge over Novo, considering Zepbound is more effective than Wegovy, it faces less competition from the compounded GLP-1 market, and has found more success driving prescriptions through its D2C channel.

This is our immediate perspective. We’re actively developing this story throughout the day with more research and data from the EMARKETER database. Our in-depth analysis will be included in our client-only Briefings. Non-clients can click here to get a demo of our full platform and coverage.

Check out other EMARKETER content related to this story:

• Eli Lilly poised to take the lead in diabetes and weight-loss pill race
• Weaker Wegovy sales drive more financial disappointment for Novo Nordisk
• Weight loss patients are staying on medications longer than a year
• Weight loss drugs may get Medicare and Medicaid coverage through government trial