2. Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY)
Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) takes second place because it currently has the strongest commercial and clinical momentum in metabolic medicine. Zepbound has rapidly become one of the industry’s most important products, while Mounjaro continues expanding in diabetes. During the first quarter of 2026, U.S. Zepbound revenue increased 79% year over year to approximately $4.1 billion, driven primarily by demand. Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) recently carried a market capitalization above $1 trillion, demonstrating how dramatically investors have repriced the obesity opportunity.
The company’s next-generation pipeline may be even more important than its current commercial franchise. In the pivotal TRIUMPH-1 trial, participants receiving the highest dose of retatrutide lost an average of 70.3 pounds, or 28.3% of body weight, after 80 weeks. Nearly half achieved weight loss of at least 30%, while participants who continued treatment to 104 weeks in a prespecified extension lost an average of 30.3%. Retatrutide activates GIP, GLP-1 and glucagon receptors, making it one of the most powerful late-stage obesity medicines reported to date.
Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) is also building an oral franchise through orforglipron, now known commercially as Foundayo in approved markets, and developing the amylin-based treatment eloralintide. Orforglipron produced meaningful weight loss in pivotal trials and can be taken without the food and water restrictions associated with peptide-based oral semaglutide. The main risk is valuation: investors are already paying heavily for future growth. Manufacturing, pricing concessions and competition could create volatility. Nevertheless, Lilly’s combination of existing revenue, manufacturing investment and several potentially blockbuster follow-on drugs makes it the most formidable obesity company in the industry.
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