The GLP-1 space has been busy lately, to say the least.
Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, makers of leading GLP-1s Ozempic and Zepbound, respectively, both reported earnings in early May, with each drugmaker leading in different areas. Eli Lilly, for example, saw strong sales growth in Q1 2025, while Novo had the competitive advantage in bringing the first oral GLP-1 to market.
Breaking it down. Novo’s GLP-1 sales results were somewhat mixed.
Wegovy, its obesity GLP-1, brought in $2.6 billion in Q1, up roughly 85% from $1.4 billion in Q1 2024 but down about 13% from $3 billion in Q4 2024. Ozempic, its Type 2 diabetes GLP-1, made nearly $5 billion, up 19% from $4.2 billion in Q1 2024 but down almost 3% from $5.1 billion in Q4 2024.
Lilly’s obesity GLP-1, Zepbound, on the other hand, brought in $2.3 billion in Q1, up almost 345% from $517 million YoY. And its Type 2 diabetes GLP-1, Mounjaro, brought in $3.8 billion, up 111% from $1.8 billion last year.
Overall, Novo brought in $11.8 billion in revenue for the first quarter, up 19% YoY compared to $9.9 billion. Lilly brought in $12.7 billion in revenue for the first quarter, up 44% from $8.8 billion Q1 2024.
No more copies. Part of Novo’s GLP-1 sales decrease was due to more compounders selling copycat versions of semaglutide, according to EVP and CFO Karsten Munk Knudsen.
“It became clear over the first quarter that the amount of business that had gone to the compounders was just significantly bigger than what we had anticipated,” he reportedly told Barron’s.
However, Novo expects GLP-1 sales to improve in the second half of the year, President and CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen said during a May 7 earnings call, as compounders will no longer be able to sell semaglutide starting May 22.
Plus, CVS’s PBM, Caremark, announced May 1 it would make Novo’s Wegovy—instead of Lilly’s Zepbound—the preferred GLP-1 on its formulary.
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Eli Lilly chair and CEO David Ricks responded to the retail pharmacy chain’s move during the company’s May 1 earnings call by saying “it seems like the wrong idea to reduce choice,” but added he wasn’t surprised and Lilly would “work through it.”
Jørgensen said Novo didn’t pursue the placement, but he believes “the formulary decision by CVS speaks to the benefits of Wegovy.”
Novo also recently signed a deal that allows Hims & Hers to sell Wegovy on the telehealth company’s website.
The new frontier? Both Novo and Lilly are working to bring oral versions of their GLP-1s to the market.
Jørgensen said Novo submitted an application to the FDA for “Wegovy in a pill” in February. Ricks said Lilly plans to submit an application for its oral GLP-1, called orforglipron, for obesity treatment later this year and then for Type 2 diabetes in the first half of 2026, as long as the Phase 3 trial results, which Lilly expects in Q3, come back successful.
The tariff question. Both Ricks and Jørgensen said the tariffs currently in place likely won’t affect their respective companies much, but warned pharmaceutical tariffs could.
President Donald Trump said on May 5 he would announce pharma tariffs within two weeks, CNBC reported.
Ricks said during Lilly’s earnings call that while the company supports “the US government’s goals to increase domestic investment,” he doesn’t think tariffs “are the right mechanism.”
“Enhanced tax incentives and/or the extension of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are better tools to achieve their goals,” he said.
Jørgensen highlighted Denmark-based Novo’s US manufacturing efforts, saying the company has invested $24 billion in its US-based manufacturing sites over the past 10 years. He also said the company’s oral GLP-1 would be made and packaged entirely in the US.