Lilly Q3 earnings top forecasts as Mounjaro and Zepbound sales climb

INDIANAPOLIS, Oct 29 (Peptide Zone) Eli Lilly reported third quarter revenue of $24.4 billion on Thursday, up 39% from a year earlier, as sales of its tirzepatide brands Mounjaro and Zepbound kept rising. The Lilly Q3 earnings beat analyst forecasts and led the company to raise its full year revenue outlook for the third time in 2026, according to Dow Jones. Lilly said strong demand outweighed lower prices. Shares rose 6.2% on the day.

Mounjaro and Zepbound sales drive the quarter

Mounjaro, the tirzepatide brand Lilly sells for type 2 diabetes, brought in $10.72 billion in the quarter, a 65% rise on the same period of 2025, the report said. Zepbound sales reached $5.35 billion, up 49%; Zepbound is the same molecule marketed for weight management. By our arithmetic, the two brands together accounted for $16.07 billion, or about two thirds of total company revenue. Lilly told investors that higher volumes more than offset lower prices on the drugs. The report did not say how far net prices fell or which markets saw the largest cuts. Tirzepatide is a peptide that acts on both GIP and GLP 1 receptors. Mounjaro sales alone now make up more than 40% of the company's quarterly revenue.

The Lilly Q3 earnings also showed higher profit. Lilly earned $6.45 billion, or $7.22 a share, against $5.58 billion, or $6.21 a share, a year earlier, according to a Dow Jones report on Morningstar. Adjusted earnings came to $7.48 a share, above the $5.68 that analysts polled by FactSet had expected. Revenue of $24.4 billion compared with a FactSet consensus of $22.58 billion. Investors reacted the same day. The stock rose 6.2% to $1,368.27 on Thursday, leaving it 28% higher since the start of the year. The table below sets out the main figures. All of them are company results as relayed by Dow Jones, because Peptide Zone could not open Lilly's own release before publication.

Medicare Bridge program adds new patients

Lilly also credited the Medicare Bridge program, a coverage expansion that began in July. According to the report, Bridge gives eligible Medicare beneficiaries access to weight loss drugs for a monthly copay. The covered medicines include Lilly's Zepbound and Foundayo as well as Novo Nordisk's Wegovy, a semaglutide product. Company executives told analysts that a majority of new Bridge patients had started on a Lilly medicine. The report did not give enrolment figures, the copay amount or the share of Lilly's quarterly sales tied to the program. Without those numbers, outside readers cannot yet judge how much of the quarter's growth came from Bridge rather than from other channels. Lilly did not publish a separate Bridge figure in the material Dow Jones reported.

"It's performing above our expectations," Ilya Yuffa, president of Lilly USA and global customer capabilities, said of Bridge on a call with analysts.

"It's performing above our expectations," Ilya Yuffa, president of Lilly USA and global customer capabilities, said of Bridge on a call with analysts. He added that Lilly sees room to widen access to its drugs and raise their use through the program, the report said. That is a company view, not a measured result. Coverage remains a pressure point outside Medicare. A 2026 employer survey found that 18% of firms with 200 or more workers cover GLP 1 drugs for weight loss, a share that did not grow from the prior year. Public plans such as Bridge may matter more to future volume than employer plans, but Lilly gave no forecast that splits its demand by payer.

Lilly revenue guidance rises for a third time

Lilly now expects full year 2026 revenue of $91 billion to $92 billion, the report said. Its previous range was $85 billion to $87 billion. At the midpoints, that is an increase of $5.5 billion, by our arithmetic. This is the third time this year that the company has lifted its sales outlook. The new Lilly revenue guidance is a forecast, not a result. It rests on assumptions about demand and pricing that the company did not detail in the report, and Lilly could still fall short of it. The report also did not give a year to date revenue total. Peptide Zone therefore could not check how much fourth quarter growth the new range assumes compared with the third quarter.

The profit outlook moved the other way. Lilly cut its adjusted earnings forecast to $35 to $36 a share, from $35.50 to $36.50, to account for acquired in process research and development charges. Such charges usually reflect payments for experimental drugs or rights bought from other companies. The report did not name the deals behind them. Lilly's obesity pipeline extends past tirzepatide. Recent readouts include an eloralintide and tirzepatide pairing in a phase 2b trial and Phase 3 data for retatrutide, an experimental triple hormone drug. Neither candidate is approved, so neither added to sales in the quarter. Any future revenue from them would depend on regulator decisions that have not yet been made.

What the tirzepatide numbers leave out

The Lilly Q3 earnings report as relayed by Dow Jones leaves several questions open. It does not break out sales by country, so it is unclear how much of the growth came from the United States. It gives no unit volumes and no net price change. It also gives no sales figure for Foundayo, the other Lilly brand named as part of Bridge. Those gaps matter for anyone trying to judge whether the pace can last. Growth driven by lower prices and wider coverage can look different from growth driven by new uses or new markets. Lilly's full release and its quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission should add detail, and Peptide Zone will update this story if they change the picture.

Demand on this scale also reaches beyond the balance sheet. Health authorities in South Korea and Japan issued new checks or warnings on obesity injections this month, according to earlier Peptide Zone reports. A North Carolina pharmacy recently recalled 22 lots of injectable tirzepatide that it could not show were sterile, and the FDA rated the recall Class II. Peptide Zone does not report prices or sellers for compounded or gray market copies. Approved tirzepatide reaches patients through a licensed prescriber and pharmacy. Compounded and unapproved versions do not pass through the same approval review. In Iceland, customs tests found many seized peptide vials did not contain what their labels claimed, according to another Peptide Zone report.

Conclusion

The Lilly Q3 earnings show tirzepatide sales still climbing, with Mounjaro up 65% and Zepbound up 49% on the year. Lilly raised its 2026 revenue range to $91 billion to $92 billion, a company forecast rather than a result. The next checks are the quarterly filing, any Bridge enrolment data and fourth quarter results, which will show whether volume keeps outrunning price cuts. This report is for information only and is not medical or investment advice.