Industry coverage tracks the money around peptides: Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk earnings, pipeline shifts, M&A, IPOs, peptide CDMO capacity, and the telehealth and pharmacy economy that GLP-1s built.
The two stories that keep moving the most market cap: how fast oral GLP-1s reach approval (orforglipron, oral semaglutide, oral wegovy, danuglipron's exit), and what happens to the compounded-peptide channel as the FDA tightens. Hims, Ro, LifeMD, GoodRx, and Amazon Pharmacy have all rerouted distribution in the past year. Behind them, contract manufacturers like Bachem, PolyPeptide, and BASF have been the bottleneck no one talked about until they were.
Stories here name the company, the deal, and the dollars. Earnings, partnership, regulatory hit — whatever moved the share price gets covered.
OMI Wellbeauty (founder Naomi Whittel) launched a Hair Growth Peptides supplement line in May 2026, anchored by the Intermediate Filament Peptide (IFP) — a bioactive peptide formulated to support keratin networks in hair follicles and collagen IV production at the root. The double-blind, placebo-controlled 90-day clinical study reported 47% reduction in hair shedding with no significant side effects. The launch sits alongside Neurogan's 2% GHK-Cu body care and Auro Wellness's copper-tripeptide serum as part of the cosmetic and consumer-supplement peptide wave that has been accelerating into the July 2026 PCAC meeting. Unlike compounded peptides, OMI's product is a dietary supplement — not an FDA-approved drug — but the clinical-evidence framing distinguishes it from the broader unregulated peptide-supplement market.
In its fourth commercial week (April 27–May 1), Eli Lilly's Foundayo (orforglipron) recorded 7,335 prescriptions per IQVIA, Citi told clients May 8, calling the early launch 'off to a solid start' and modeling $146M in Q2 revenue and $1.6B for full-year 2026. Citi flagged that IQVIA captures retail and partial telehealth data but likely understates Lilly Direct and the 12+ telehealth firms representing roughly 35% of launch volume; Lilly executives have cited 20,000 patients now on Foundayo. For comparison, Citi's same note pegged Wegovy pill at 440,410 prescriptions in the week ending May 1, with oral semaglutide accounting for 33% of all Novo obesity referrals.
PolyPeptide Group AG announced that it has expanded its existing credit facility to EUR 200 million in support of growth ambitions and progress toward doubling 2023 revenue by 2028. The Swedish-Belgian peptide CDMO is one of the four large dedicated peptide manufacturers — alongside Bachem, CordenPharma, and Sun Pharma's Hyderabad PolyPeptide platform — and has previously announced a EUR 100M expansion in Malmö plus large-scale SPPS production in Braine-l'Alleud, Belgium that started in late 2024. The credit move heads into TIDES USA 2026 (May 11–14, Boston), where capacity, GMP investment, and large-scale SPPS economics will dominate the panel agenda.
Hims & Hers reports Q1 2026 after market close May 11, with consensus revenue at $616-619M and EPS at roughly 3-4 cents — a 90% YoY decline. The investor question is whether the legitimate Wegovy/Ozempic distribution channel from the Novo Nordisk partnership (signed April 2026) can offset the wind-down of the compounded semaglutide business. Novo's branded products were not on the platform until March 26, with Q1 books closing March 31 — meaningful Wegovy revenue contribution likely lands in Q2. Subscriber count above 2.5M and ~82% three-month retention remain the standing benchmarks. The April 30 FDA proposal to remove semaglutide, tirzepatide, and liraglutide from the 503B bulks list raises the medium-term bar for any compounding-driven model.
Crinetics Pharmaceuticals reported Q1 2026 results May 7 — total revenue $10.7M (vs $8.5M consensus, +25.7% beat), Palsonify (paltusotine) net product revenue $10.3M in its first full commercial quarter (up from $5.4M in Q4 2025), 263 unique prescribers (up from 125 at year-end), 232 new patient enrollment forms in the quarter, and approximately 70% of patients reimbursed with payer coverage above 60% (target above 75% by Q3). Cash, equivalents, and investments closed at $1.3B. R&D rose 17.6% to $100.1M to fund Phase 3 paltusotine in carcinoid syndrome plus atumelnant Phase 3 programs in congenital adrenal hyperplasia and Cushing's syndrome. Shares rose 4.3% in after-hours trading.
Zealand Pharma reported Q1 2026 revenue of DKK 34M against DKK 8M a year earlier and the DKK 17M analyst consensus — a more-than-2× beat on the recognition of Roche's $700M (DKK 4.5B) milestone payment tied to petrelintide's advancement into Phase 3. The board authorized a share buyback of up to DKK 1.3B. Net operating expenses came in at DKK 573M (below the DKK 679M consensus), and the company reaffirmed petrelintide Phase 3 obesity initiation in H2 2026. Petrelintide is the long-acting amylin analog that posted ~10.7% mean weight loss with placebo-like tolerability in ZUPREME-1; the Roche partnership combines it with the GLP-1/GIP enicepatide (CT-388) in a fixed-dose Phase 2 starting mid-2026. Shares rose 8.4% to DKK 344.
Two of the year's biggest peptide-related meetings open within 24 hours of each other next week. The European Congress on Obesity 2026 runs May 12–15 in Istanbul, with Novo Nordisk presenting 52 abstracts spanning Wegovy 7.2 mg full STEP UP data, CagriSema higher-dose Phase 3 plans, Wegovy pill efficacy and tolerability, and women's-obesity / perimenopause / migraine subgroups; the 21-expert global panel will also formally propose the 10-year prospective GLP-1 cancer-prevention trial. TIDES USA 2026 runs May 11–14 in Boston with six concurrent scientific tracks across oligonucleotides, peptides, and mRNA — featuring Bachem, PolyPeptide, CordenPharma, Gilead, and Novo Nordisk on the CMC strategy and GMP capacity panels. Hims & Hers prints Q1 May 11 the same evening.
Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar told CNBC May 6 that the Wegovy brand now holds 65% of all new US GLP-1 prescriptions and characterized the moment as a 'turnaround situation' for the franchise. The Q1 print also disclosed that Novo has terminated the single-chamber CagriSema co-formulation project 'due to portfolio considerations' — the dual-chamber injectable system continues, with the original FDA filing already submitted and a decision expected late 2026. The CEO insisted plans for the CagriSema launch remain on track despite the device change. CNBC also documented LifeMD's new-patient volume jumping from 300–400/day before the Wegovy pill launch to 600–1,000/day after.
Jefferies analysts pushed back May 6 against the otherwise-positive market reaction to Novo Nordisk's Q1, arguing that the change in full-year guidance (tightened from a 5–13% sales-and-operating-profit decline to a 4–12% decline) was unlikely to lift consensus forecasts and could even contract them: 'we suspect the fact that the company has not lifted the lower end of the guidance range more will be seen as a negative.' The framing matters because NVO US-listed shares had already risen ~6% on the print, and the price-war pressure on the GLP-1 class — with Wegovy pill running at $149/month for the 1.5 mg starter dose against intensifying Foundayo competition — leaves the lower-end risk path open through year-end.
Lisata Therapeutics filed a May 3 SEC 8-K disclosing an Amendment and Waiver to the Merger Agreement with Kuva Labs Inc. The original definitive agreement (March 6, 2026) priced the all-cash tender at $5.00/share plus a $1.00 contingent value right per share — payable if a regulatory filing for certepetide is submitted or accepted in any jurisdiction within seven years. Closing is expected in Q2 2026. Certepetide is Lisata's cyclic peptide CendR-platform tumor-microenvironment modulator; the lead Phase 2 ASCEND trial in metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma reported encouraging Cohort A data, and a Phase 1b/2a trial in locally advanced non-resectable PDAC is also active. Kuva is a cancer imaging company expanding into therapeutics through the deal.
Crinetics Pharmaceuticals reports Q1 2026 financial results after market close May 7, with a 4:30 p.m. ET conference call. Investors will be looking for first commercial color on Palsonify (paltusotine), the once-daily oral SST2 nonpeptide agonist that won European Commission approval April 27 for adult acromegaly across the 27 EU member states plus three EEA countries (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway). First launches are planned for Germany and Austria. Q1 commentary on CRN09682 — the first-in-class SSTR2 non-peptide drug conjugate currently in Phase 1/2 BRAVESST2 in metastatic neuroendocrine tumors — is also expected, with the program designed as a direct challenge to peptide-based PRRT including Lutathera and Perspective Therapeutics' alpha-PRRT.
Bicycle Therapeutics reported Q1 2026 financial results April 30 — net loss of $60.8M ($0.87 per share) on R&D of approximately $44M, with $559.5M in cash and equivalents at March 31 supporting a cash runway into 2030. The pipeline update reaffirmed that nuzefatide pevedotin (BT5528) Duravelo-2 dose-selection data in EphA2-positive solid tumors will be presented at the ASCO 2026 Rapid Oral Abstract Session on June 1, the Phase 2 nuzefatide pevedotin trial in recurrent pancreatic cancer enrolled its first patient in April, and the EphA2 gallium-68 PET imaging program continues to accumulate first-in-human data. Bicycle remains the leading bicyclic-peptide-platform pure-play in oncology.
CNBC's May 6 Wegovy-Q1 piece documented LifeMD new-patient volume jumping from 300–400 per day before the Wegovy pill January 5 launch to 600–1,000 per day after, with the telehealth platform crediting the pill format and improved insurance coverage for unlocking a wave of GLP-1-curious patients who had not previously committed to injectables. LifeMD has been one of the most exposed independent pure-play telehealth obesity platforms during the Novo channel-expansion era, and its data point feeds the broader 'oral GLP-1 expands the market' thesis that Lilly's Foundayo team also referenced on the April 30 Q1 call (where 80% of Foundayo patients were new to the GLP-1 class).
Novo Nordisk reported Q1 2026 results May 6: net sales of DKK 96.82B (+24% YoY) and operating profit of DKK 59.62B (+54%). The Wegovy pill drove the print with DKK 2.26B (~$354M) in Q1 sales — almost double the DKK 1.16B analyst consensus — on roughly 1.3 million Q1 prescriptions and more than 2 million cumulative US prescriptions since the January 5 launch. Injectable Wegovy sales rose 12% YoY to DKK 18.2B. Ozempic sales fell 8% YoY but came in above expectations. The company tightened full-year guidance to a 4–12% sales-and-operating-profit decline at constant exchange rates, narrower than the prior 5–13% range. NVO US-listed shares rose roughly 6% on the print.
Barclays analyst Emily Field raised her price target on Eli Lilly to $1,400 from $1,350 May 5 and reiterated an Overweight rating, citing tirzepatide momentum continuing to outpace the GLP-1 class and easing concerns around the Foundayo launch trajectory. LLY stock had recovered roughly 11% off the May 4 Foundayo FAERS-driven dip to about $966 by mid-week. Barclays simultaneously trimmed its 2026 Foundayo revenue estimate to approximately $1B (vs. ~$1.4B consensus) on the early IQVIA gap to Wegovy pill, but the higher headline target reflects confidence that Mounjaro and Zepbound's volume growth more than absorbs Foundayo's slower start.
Multiple Wall Street firms raised LLY price targets in the May 5–6 window. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted its target to $1,230, BofA to $1,294, and the broader analyst consensus by 19 firms now sits at $1,228 (24.15% upside over 12 months) per the May 6 update, with a Buy consensus rating. The driver: tirzepatide's Q1 +125% global growth, the Mounjaro/Zepbound volume re-rating, the May 1 stock recovery from the Foundayo hepatic-failure FAERS report, and Lilly's response that no DILI signal exists across the 11,000-patient ACHIEVE+ATTAIN program. RBC Capital framed the FAERS event as 'baseline noise.'
ResearchAndMarkets published an April 21 PDC market landscape report counting six peptide-drug conjugates currently in Phase III trials and approximately 96 in development across the global pipeline. Lutathera remains the only FDA-approved PDC after Pepaxto's withdrawal, though Pepaxto retains EMA and MHRA approval. The report flags 34% year-over-year growth in clinical-trial registrations for peptide-based oncology compounds, with the majority targeting solid tumors previously considered peptide-resistant. Phase 2 ADC peptide-linker data released in early 2026 shows tumor-specific payload delivery rates above 85% — nearly double the 2023 benchmark — driven by the proteolytic-stability work that lets linker peptides survive serum peptidase degradation long enough to reach solid tumors.
Eli Lilly stock has gained roughly 11% over the past week, recovering from the May 4 Foundayo hepatic-failure FAERS report-driven 3% premarket dip and consolidating gains from the April 30 Q1 beat. Per the May 6 analyst consensus across 19 covering firms, LLY now carries an average 12-month price target of $1,228 — implying 24.15% upside from current $966 — with a Buy consensus rating. The recovery framework: tirzepatide volume (+125% global Q1 growth) anchors the floor, retatrutide TRIUMPH program (seven Phase 3 readouts due in 2026) anchors the upside, the small-molecule manufacturing economics of Foundayo offset peptide CDMO bottlenecks, and Pfizer's MariTide/MET-097i and Novo's CagriSema higher-dose program don't read out until 2027.