New York, Feb 21, 2026, 13:15 EST — Market closed.
- Eli Lilly shares fell 1.3% on Friday, lagging a broader market rise.
- Investors are weighing tougher scrutiny of compounded GLP-1 “copycat” weight-loss drugs.
- Next up: Lilly’s CFO speaks March 2; the market is also watching an FDA call expected in April on Lilly’s obesity pill.
Eli Lilly and Co shares ended down 1.34% at $1,009.52 on Friday. (Reuters)
With U.S. markets shut for the weekend, the stock heads into Monday with a familiar set of drivers and one that is getting louder: how regulators and courts treat cheaper, pharmacy-made versions of obesity drugs. The answer can change who buys what, and at what price.
That matters now because Lilly has kept investors’ attention with outsize growth tied to its GLP-1 franchise — medicines that curb appetite and lower blood sugar — and the stock has little room for sloppy surprises. Earlier this month, the company forecast 2026 adjusted earnings per share, a per-share profit measure, of $33.50 to $35 and sales of $80 billion to $83 billion, both ahead of Wall Street estimates. (Reuters)
On Friday, Lilly’s decline came even as the S&P 500 rose 0.69% and the Dow gained 0.47%, MarketWatch data showed. Lilly is about 11% below its 52-week high of $1,133.95 hit on Jan. 8, and it traded about 3.2 million shares, roughly in line with its 50-day average volume. (MarketWatch)
A day earlier, Reuters detailed how telehealth company Hims & Hers drew swift blowback after unveiling a compounded oral semaglutide pill priced at $49, before retreating after FDA Commissioner Marty Makary warned such offerings were “illegal copycats.” BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman, who covers Lilly, said, “Lilly and Novo are always going to be able to make their product more efficiently.” (Reuters)
Compounding is a legal pharmacy practice under tight limits, typically for tailored doses when an approved drug is not available for a patient. The FDA has warned it is seeing unapproved compounded GLP-1 products with misleading labels and said it cannot verify the quality, safety or effectiveness of such drugs. (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
Separately, a regulatory filing on Feb. 19 showed Lilly’s EVP and chief people officer, Eric Dozier, disposed of 481 shares at $0 in a transaction coded as a gift, leaving about 14,455 shares directly owned after the move. (SEC)
On the calendar, Lilly’s investor site lists a March 2 appearance at TD Cowen’s annual health care conference, where CFO Lucas Montarce is scheduled for a fireside chat at 3:10 p.m. ET. The next earnings date on that same schedule is an April 30 first-quarter call. (Lilly)
Beyond the week ahead, the bigger catalyst remains Lilly’s bid to move weight-loss treatment from injections to pills. Reuters reported the company had built $1.5 billion of “pre-launch inventory” of its experimental oral obesity drug orforglipron ahead of an FDA decision expected in April, while rival Novo Nordisk’s newly launched daily weight-loss pill hit more than 26,000 prescriptions in its second full week in the U.S., based on IQVIA data shared by an analyst. (Reuters)
For Monday’s open, traders are likely to keep one eye on any fresh twists in the legal and regulatory fight over compounded GLP-1s, and the other on whether branded makers keep cutting patient costs to blunt the copycat appeal.
But the downside case is still there. Faster price erosion, tougher payer pushback, or a slower conversion of “compounded” users to branded drugs could pressure growth expectations that are already doing a lot of work in Lilly’s valuation.
The next hard date is March 2, when investors will listen for any new color from Montarce on pricing, supply and demand — and how the company sees the road to an FDA decision on orforglipron in April.
