David Ricks said drugs like Mounjaro and Zepbound are priced to reflect the costs involved, patent expiry, and the enormous value they offer.

The weight-loss drug boom has transformed Eli Lilly (LLY), the maker of Zepbound, into the largest healthcare company in the world. Now, the pharma giant wants to reinvest its success with weight-loss meds into tackling some of the world’s toughest health challenges.

Eli Lilly’s (LLY) new weight loss pill is still in clinical trials and has not yet been approved by regulators. But that hasn’t stopped the

(Reuters) - Eli Lilly is betting big on its experimental oral weight-loss drug even before reporting data from its late-stage trial by recording nearly $550 million in "pre-launch inventory" in its financial statements, a filing showed on Wednesday.

Popular weight-loss therapies like Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Zepbound result in both fat and muscle loss.

About a dozen drugmakers are developing new weight-loss treatments aimed at preserving muscle, and industry analysts, clinical trial experts and doctors say they may also need to demonstrate additional health benefits beyond the numbers on a scale to get approved.

The recent surge has been due to the tremendous growth Lilly has achieved due to its highly popular GLP-1 drugs, including Mounjaro (for diabetes) and Zepbound (for weight loss). Together, those two products generated $5.4 billion in sales for Eli Lilly last quarter, or 40% of the top line.