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.
WeightWatchers announced May 1 that its Med+ platform and affiliated medical groups will begin offering Ozempic pill (oral semaglutide) for clinically eligible members with type 2 diabetes. Many eligible members can access the medication for as low as $25/month with pharmacy benefits. The expansion adds a once-daily oral GLP-1 alongside the existing Med+ portfolio of clinically supervised weight-management and metabolic-health treatments, giving WW a foothold in T2D care to complement its weight-loss positioning.
GoodRx announced May 1 that it has added self-pay access for the Ozempic pill, offering eligible patients with type 2 diabetes the medication at $149/month for the 1.5 mg dose, $199/month for 4 mg, and $299/month for 9 mg at participating pharmacies nationwide. The collaboration extends GoodRx's existing work across Novo Nordisk's full semaglutide portfolio, letting cash-paying patients bypass insurance complexity at the counter. The launch closes a transparency gap that has dogged consumer access to oral GLP-1 therapy.
Eli Lilly shares climbed 6.11% on May 1 as the market digested the company's Q1 2026 print: $19.8B in revenue (+56% YoY), Mounjaro at $8.66B globally (+125%), Zepbound at $4.16B in U.S. sales (+80%), and reported EPS of $8.26 versus the $6.97 consensus. Multiple sell-side analysts revised price targets higher and reiterated or upgraded ratings, citing the strength of the cardiometabolic franchise and the $2 billion guidance raise to $82–85B. The reaction crystallized Lilly's positioning as the GLP-1 leader heading into Novo's May 6 Q1 print.
Profluent, the Bezos-backed AI biotech, announced April 28 a multi-program research collaboration with Eli Lilly worth up to $2.25B in development and commercial milestones plus tiered royalties. Profluent will use its AI platform to design custom recombinases that integrate or modify large stretches of DNA at precise genomic loci, with the goal of generating site-specific gene-editing therapies for diseases of severe unmet need. The deal extends Lilly's diversification beyond peptide therapeutics, following a $1.12B Seamless Therapeutics recombinase deal in January 2026 and the closed Kelonia Therapeutics, Centessa, Orna, and Ajax acquisitions earlier in the quarter.
ResearchAndMarkets released a Peptide and Oligonucleotide CDMO Market Research Report on April 30 forecasting the global market expanding from $2.42B in 2025 to $2.7B in 2026 (11.9% CAGR), reaching $4.03B by 2030. The report names Bachem, PolyPeptide, CordenPharma, and AmbioPharm as the dominant capacity holders capturing roughly 55–60% of global revenue. Demand for GLP-1 receptor agonists and siRNA drugs is outpacing GMP suite availability, giving CDMOs unusual pricing power in multi-year capacity contracts. The report frames manufacturing capacity as the binding constraint on the next wave of peptide therapeutics.
Eli Lilly reported Q1 2026 worldwide revenue of $19.8 billion, up 56% year over year on 65% volume growth partially offset by a 13% price decline. Mounjaro hit $8.66 billion globally (+125%), Zepbound delivered $4.16 billion in U.S. sales (+80%), and reported Q1 EPS jumped 170% to $8.26. Lilly raised 2026 revenue guidance by $2 billion at each end to $82–85 billion and lifted non-GAAP EPS guidance to $35.50–$37.00. The release also recapped five positive Phase 3 readouts, six new Phase 3 starts, and the closings of the Orna, Centessa, Colonia, and Ajax acquisitions in the quarter.
The American Medical Association published a consumer-facing primer on April 30 framing the safety risks of unregulated injectable peptides marketed online for weight loss, recovery, muscle growth, and anti-aging. Physicians quoted in the piece urge patients to push past social-media claims and discuss intended use with a clinician, noting that many products sold under wellness branding are not FDA-approved and may carry sterility, dosing, and interaction risks. The piece joins recent coverage from STAT, Scientific American, the Washington Post, ABC News affiliates, and Columbia Doctors as mainstream medicine reacts to the post-Category-2 environment.
Hello Peptide announced an expansion of its digital platform HelloPeptide.net on April 30, positioning it as a research-aligned consumer education resource for adults navigating GLP-1 and peptide-therapy decisions. The launch is timed to a documented surge in consumer search and telehealth inquiries that followed the FDA's April 22 Category 2 removal of 12 peptides and the upcoming July 23–24 PCAC meeting. The platform sits alongside FormBlends' 2026 State of Peptides report and a wave of legacy-media safety primers as the post-restriction information ecosystem takes shape.
Eli Lilly's acquisition of Kelonia Therapeutics — announced April 20 with $3.25 billion upfront and up to $7 billion total including milestones — illustrates the company's broader pivot beyond GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. Kelonia develops in vivo CAR-T technology that reprograms patients' T-cells inside the body, eliminating the ex vivo cell-engineering step required by current CAR-T therapies. The deal joins Lilly's recent Centessa Pharmaceuticals (sleep) and Orna Therapeutics (cell therapy) acquisitions as part of a multi-vertical pipeline diversification. Transaction expected to close H2 2026.
Novo Nordisk announced April 28 that it will present 52 abstracts at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2026, Istanbul, May 12–15), including new data from the REDEFINE 1 trial of CagriSema (cagrilintide 2.4 mg/semaglutide 2.4 mg): body composition and muscle strength, achievement of BMI/waist-to-height ratio targets, and cardiovascular risk reduction. Additional presentations will cover higher-dose Wegovy (semaglutide 7.2 mg), the Wegovy pill (oral semaglutide 25 mg) from OASIS 4 and ORION trials, and obesity treatment outcomes in women. The disclosure sets up a significant amylin/GLP-1 combination data event exactly as Zealand and Roche's amylin-only petrelintide moves into Phase 3.
The 3rd Peptide-Based Therapeutics Summit opened today in Boston, running April 28-30 with the industry's only dedicated platform for next-generation peptide discoveries. Featured industry news being presented includes Pinnacle Medicines' $89M Series B for oral peptide therapeutics, J&J's FDA approval of ICOTRYDE™, Daiichi Sankyo's Meddenovo Mexa AI cyclic peptide collaboration, and Unnatural Products' $45M Series B for synthetic macrocyclic peptides (on top of last year's $1.7B Novartis deal). The summit reflects the rapid growth of peptides as a disruptive third modality alongside small molecules and biologics.
OrbiMed-incubated Pinnacle Medicines is featured at the Boston peptide summit highlighting its oversubscribed $89M Series B financing (closed March 26) for advancing oral peptide therapeutics designed to match the efficacy of injectable biologics. Lead programs target asthma, COPD, immunology, and inflammation — distinct from the GLP-1 obesity focus dominating peptide headlines. The platform combines proprietary peptide stabilization with oral-bioavailability engineering, positioning Pinnacle as one of the most differentiated non-GLP-1 oral peptide developers in the current pipeline.
Daiichi Sankyo's collaboration with Meddenovo's AI-powered Mexa technology — for de novo design of cyclic peptides — is among the highlighted partnerships at the Boston peptide summit. The deal positions Daiichi to leverage Meddenovo's machine-learning platform for peptide candidates beyond the company's traditional small-molecule oncology focus. Cyclic peptide AI design is one of the fastest-moving subcategories in peptide drug discovery, with Circle Pharma, Bicycle Therapeutics, and Unnatural Products all pursuing distinct platform architectures.
Morningstar issued a pre-earnings note ahead of Eli Lilly's April 30 Q1 2026 report raising fair value to $870 from $770 following 2025 results and management guidance. Analysts project 27% top-line growth in 2026 and 20% in 2027, with double-digit growth through end of decade. Mounjaro/Zepbound represented 56% of total sales in 2025, projected to exceed 60% in 2026 with patent protection through 2036. The Q1 print will be the first read on Foundayo launch trajectory after the disappointing 1,390 / 3,707 prescription weeks 1-2.
C&EN published a comprehensive April 2026 feature examining whether amylin analogs — Novo's cagrilintide, Lilly's eloralintide, and Roche/Zealand's petrelintide — can carve meaningful share in a market dominated by semaglutide and tirzepatide. Wall Street initially expected amylin candidates to differentiate on muscle preservation and reduced GI side effects, but as Phase 2 readouts arrive investor enthusiasm has cooled. CagriSema Phase 3 head-to-head against tirzepatide is the make-or-break readout for Novo Nordisk's amylin strategy.
An investor-facing April 2026 deep dive analyzes Hims & Hers' transformation from compounded GLP-1 distributor to dual-supplier branded telehealth platform after the Novo Nordisk settlement (March 9, 2026), the Eli Lilly partnership expansion (April 23), and the FDA Category 2 peptide reclassification. The piece argues the California peptide manufacturing facility acquired in 2025 — originally for compounded GLP-1s — could pivot to producing reclassified peptides like BPC-157, TB-500, and KPV if July's PCAC clears the path.
Two of the largest obesity drug makers report this week: Eli Lilly (April 30) with Foundayo (orforglipron) launch trajectory and Mounjaro/Zepbound dynamics under scrutiny — Lilly previously guided 2026 sales of $80-83 billion (25% growth); and Novo Nordisk (May 6) facing 5-13% guided sales decline as semaglutide loses exclusivity in China, Brazil, Canada, and as the Wegovy pill ramps. Goldman analysts model Lilly's oral GLP-1 capturing 60% of the daily-oral segment by 2030; Novo's projected at 21%. The Foundayo Week 1-2 prescription tracker has shown a slow start.
Empower Pharmacy published a detailed industry analysis of the FDA's April 16 announcement removing 12 peptides from Category 2 and convening the July 23-24 PCAC meeting. The piece walks through the practical implications for compounding pharmacies, distinguishes Category 2 removal from Section 503A Bulk Drug Substances List inclusion, and emphasizes the gap between regulatory action and clinical access — physicians and patients are pressuring compounders to prepare peptides legally restricted only weeks ago.