What’s News in Earnings: How Big Pharma Is Expanding the GLP-1 Market
5/8/20267 min
Bonus Episode for May 8. Financial results from pharmaceutical companies Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Merck, Bristol Myers Squibb and AbbVie show strong demand continuing for weight-loss drugs and autoimmune treatments. Wall Street Journal pharma reporter Peter Loftus discusses which drugmakers have the upper hand in the race to dominate those markets. WSJ Heard on the Street columnist David Wainer hosts this special bonus episode of What's News in Earnings, where we dig into companies’ earnings reports and analyst calls to find out what’s going on under the hood of the American economy. Sign up for the WSJ's free Markets A.M. newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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David Wainer· Host0:15
[upbeat music] Hey, listeners. It's Friday, May 8th. I'm David Weiner for the Wall Street Journal, and this is What's News in Earnings, our look at some of the biggest themes standing out this earnings season. The weight loss drug market is still growing faster than Wall Street expects. Industry leader Eli Lilly last week reported results that blew past analyst estimates, and the company raised its forecast for sales this year. And that was mostly because of consumer demand for its GLP-1 injections. Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk said the prescriptions for its new Wegovy pill are off to a strong start. That showed that people around the world just can't get enough of weight loss drugs, with growing demand for the pills as well as the injectables. Elsewhere in pharma, companies are mostly delivering positive results, with Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and AbbVie all posting earnings beats. But investors are still debating the durability of their long-term growth. [upbeat music] We're joined now by Wall Street Journal reporter Peter Loftus, who covers the pharmaceutical