LLY +0.47% NVDA -0.92% Explore stocks on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
Eli Lilly's (NYSE: LLY) Zepbound, an anti-obesity medicine, was first approved in the U.S. in 2023. It has become one of the company's main growth drivers ever since and is now the top-selling drug in the chronic weight management landscape. Zepbound could remain one of the most important therapies in Eli Lilly's arsenal, given that the weight-loss market is growing rapidly. However, the drugmaker has several other medicines that could help power its next era of growth. Let's consider three of them.
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
Foundayo is an oral GLP-1 medicine approved for weight loss. It first earned approval in the U.S. in April and has been fairly successful since. What's important about Foundayo is that it isn't just cannibalizing Zepbound's sales. Earlier this year, Eli Lilly noted that 80% of prescriptions for Foundayo were for patients who had never taken GLP-1 medicines before.
That makes sense. Zepbound is administered once weekly via subcutaneous injection. Some patients simply dislike needles. It also has storage requirements that, while not overly stringent, can be inconvenient for some patients, especially those who travel regularly. These factors likely helped Eli Lilly attract a new audience with Foundayo.
True, the medicine is trailing the Wegovy pill in the oral weight loss market. But Foundayo could gain significant traction over the medium term. Here are two reasons why. First, it can be taken at any time of day without food or water restrictions. By contrast, oral Wegovy is taken first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.
Second, and perhaps more importantly, Foundayo will likely earn important label expansions, including in diabetes, obstructive sleep apnea, and several other indications. These could help boost the medicine's sales over the next few years.
Eli Lilly earned approval for Onswik, a diabetes medicine, in September. Onswik is a once-weekly basal insulin injection which, in clinical trials, showed efficacy comparable to that of daily insulin medicines. Of course, Onswik is much more convenient since it significantly reduces the number of doses per year. So, it could attract a decent number of patients.
Onswik isn't the first once-weekly insulin medicine to earn approval. That was Novo Nordisk's (NYSE: NVO) Awiqli, which earned approval in the U.S. in March. Still, the launch of Onswik should strengthen Eli Lilly's already strong diabetes portfolio.
Retatrutide is the only one of Eli Lilly's next-gen drugs discussed here that has yet to earn approval. However, it could be the most promising. Retatrutide is an investigational weight-loss medicine that mimics the actions of three gut hormones: GLP-1, GIP, and glucagon. Here's why that's significant. Zepbound's market-leading efficacy is partly attributed to its ability to mimic two gut hormones, GLP-1 and GIP, whereas its main competitor, Wegovy, mimics only GLP-1.
But retatrutide goes one step further than Zepbound, which could, in theory, lead to even stronger efficacy. The data so far appear to support that theory. In one Phase 3 study, retatrutide led to an average weight loss of up to 28.3% over 80 weeks.
It has also shown tremendous promise in helping patients with diabetes lose weight (which is typically harder for them), as well as in other indications, such as obstructive sleep apnea. Retatrutide shouldn't simply cannibalize Zepbound's sales either -- it could attract newer patients, including those with very high BMIs (body mass indexes) who have had trouble losing weight even with the currently available options. Retatrutide could become one of Eli Lilly's key growth drivers. The pharmaceutical company plans to submit regulatory applications for the drug in the first quarter of 2027.
This is not an exhaustive list of Eli Lilly's promising drugs and pipeline candidates. Others, such as eloralintide, an investigational drug for weight loss, Kisunla, a medicine approved for Alzheimer's disease (AD), and remternetug, which is being developed for AD, look promising as well. Eli Lilly will face more competition in the weight loss market in the coming years, but the company's pipeline across weight loss, diabetes, and other areas could allow it to remain one of the leaders in its core market while making significant progress in others. That's why, even though it has crushed broader equities in recent years, Eli Lilly remains one of the top healthcare stocks to buy.
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Eli Lilly wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $391,581!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,334,780!*
Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 936% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 213% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
*Stock Advisor returns as of October 16, 2026.
Prosper Junior Bakiny has positions in Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Forget Zepbound: 3 Newer Drugs That Could Power Eli Lilly's Next Leg Higher was originally published by The Motley Fool
