Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 Drugs Are About to Get Easier to Afford Through Medicare

Eli Lilly just posted numbers that turned heads across the pharmaceutical industry. The company brought in $19.8 billion in revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2026. That’s a 56 percent jump from last year.

Two drugs drove much of that growth: Zepbound and Mounjaro. Together, they pulled in $12.8 billion during the quarter. Now, Medicare is expanding coverage for both, and that means millions of older Americans will find them easier to access.

That’s a meaningful shift. Mounjaro, whose generic name is tirzepatide, has FDA approval for type 2 diabetes. Zepbound uses the same active ingredient, but it holds a separate approval for obesity and weight management. Both remain prescription-only. Doctors typically pair them with changes in diet and exercise, not as a replacement for those habits.

For years, Medicare largely excluded weight loss drugs from coverage. Program rules simply didn’t allow it in most cases. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services makes these calls, and it tends to revisit them as new evidence or legislation emerges.

Expanding coverage for tirzepatide-based drugs could change things for a lot of patients. Older adults managing obesity or type 2 diabetes have often faced steep out-of-pocket costs for these medications. With broader coverage, that financial barrier could finally start to ease.

On the earnings side, Lilly’s non-GAAP earnings per share hit $8.55, up 156 percent year over year. The company now projects annual revenue as high as $85 billion. It expects earnings per share to reach up to $37. Diabetes, oncology, immunology, neuroscience, and obesity treatments all played a role in that outlook. Still, the GLP-1 category is clearly doing most of the heavy lifting.

So why have these drugs taken off? GLP-1 medications, a category that also includes Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy, have reshaped how doctors treat chronic conditions like obesity and diabetes. They work by mimicking hormones that regulate blood sugar and appetite, a mechanism explained in detail by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Clinical trials back this up. Patients have seen significant weight loss and better blood sugar control. Still, these drugs aren’t risk-free. Gastrointestinal side effects are common, and doctors need more long-term safety data before they can call every patient a good candidate.

As demand has grown, so has regulatory attention. The FDA continues to track safety reports tied to this drug class, including cases of pancreatitis and gallbladder issues. Meanwhile, authorities have cracked down on compounding pharmacies that produce unauthorized versions of tirzepatide and semaglutide.

That enforcement matters. It’s a reminder that patients should get these medications only through licensed pharmacies using FDA-approved formulations. Gray-market alternatives have popped up amid supply shortages, and they carry real risks.

If Medicare coverage expands as expected, prescription volumes will likely climb even further. That puts pressure on Lilly to keep scaling up manufacturing, and the company has already invested heavily toward that goal. Insurers and pharmacy benefit managers will also need to update their formularies and prior authorization processes to keep pace.

For now, patients, doctors, and insurers are all watching closely. They want to see how quickly these policy changes roll out and what they’ll actually mean in practice.