2 Major Stocks Want to Dominate the GLP-1 Market. Which One Looks Like the Leader Heading Into 2026?

• Eli Lilly is presently the person successful the tract and inactive has beardown momentum.

• Novo Nordisk has made immoderate moves that it hopes volition assistance it drawback up.

• Eli Lilly should stay the apical player, though, and its shares look attractive.

• 10 stocks we similar amended than Eli Lilly ›

GLP-1 medicines are each the rage successful the pharmaceutical manufacture these days. Recent breakthroughs successful the tract -- particularly successful helping patients negociate their value -- person helped catapult income of the leaders successful this marketplace implicit the past fewer years.

It's nary concealed which companies presently predominate the space. Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) and Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) are the wide front-runners, but which 1 has the borderline heading into adjacent year?

Eli Lilly's Trulicity, a GLP-1 medicine indicated for the attraction of Type 2 diabetes, was its best-selling merchandise for a while. However, successful caller years, Trulicity has been cannibalized by a newer objective compound called tirzepatide, marketed nether the marque names Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for obesity. It has proven effectual not lone successful those 2 indications, but besides successful treating slumber apnea.

Tirzepatide's income are increasing astatine an incredibly accelerated rate. Through the archetypal 9 months of 2025, the therapy has generated $24.8 cardinal successful revenue, making it the caller world's best-selling cause contempt its comparatively caller approval.

Why is tirzepatide successful specified precocious demand? The cause mimics the enactment of not conscionable the GLP-1 hormone, but besides GIP, which plays a relation successful insulin secretion. Activating 2 antithetic pathways has proved to beryllium a winning strategy. Tirzepatide has outperformed its main rival successful a head-to-head survey successful value management.

Here's the champion portion for Eli Lilly: The institution has different candidates that could fortify its pb successful the GLP-1 field. The drugmaker completed signifier 3 studies for orforglipron, an oral GLP-1 medicine, this year. There is inactive nary oral GLP-1 approved for value management, and orforglipron could beryllium 1 of the first.

Eli Lilly's retatrutide goes 1 measurement further than tirzepatide. It mimics the enactment of 3 hormones: GLP-1, GIP, and glucagon, which could further amended efficacy. Retatrutide is presently successful signifier 3 studies.

Given Eli Lilly's lineup and pipeline, it is intelligibly winning the GLP-1 race, for now. Can immoderate institution halt Eli Lilly?

Novo Nordisk was the person successful the abstraction until Eli Lilly launched tirzepatide. The Denmark-based pharmaceutical elephantine markets semaglutide, sold nether celebrated marque names specified arsenic Ozempic and Wegovy. But it has been losing marketplace share. As of August, it had a 49.3% stock of the planetary GLP-1 space, down from 55.7% the erstwhile year.