New York, Feb 18, 2026, 11:32 EST — Regular session
- Eli Lilly shares fell about 1.8% in morning trade, lagging the broader market.
- Lilly reported late-stage trial results pairing obesity drug Zepbound with psoriasis treatment Taltz.
- Investors are weighing how fast Lilly can widen use-cases for its blockbuster drugs and protect pricing as rivals circle.
Eli Lilly and Company shares fell about 1.8% on Wednesday, even after the drugmaker reported fresh late-stage data for a Zepbound-Taltz combination. The stock was down $18.19 at $1,017.86 by 11:32 a.m. EST, while the S&P 500 rose about 0.8% and the healthcare sector edged lower.
The move matters because Lilly’s growth story still hangs on how far it can push its obesity franchise beyond weight loss and diabetes — and how quickly it can turn new data into new labels, new demand, and durable pricing.
The weight-loss market is getting crowded. Investors have also grown less forgiving of “good data, no change” days for expensive, mega-cap drugmakers, especially when the next catalyst is a regulator’s call rather than a lab result.
Lilly said Zepbound, used with its psoriasis drug Taltz, produced better skin and weight outcomes than Taltz alone in a Phase 3b study — a late-stage trial designed to support label changes. In the 274-patient trial, 27.1% of patients on the combo reached complete skin clearance and at least 10% weight loss at 36 weeks, versus 5.8% on Taltz alone, Lilly said. (Reuters)
In a key secondary endpoint, 40.6% of patients on the combo achieved complete skin clearance on the PASI 100 scale (a standard psoriasis score), versus 29.0% on Taltz alone, a company release said. Lilly’s immunology chief Adrienne Brown called the results “far more than a clinical milestone,” while trial investigator Mark Lebwohl said psoriasis and obesity are “too often treated in silos”; Lilly said detailed results will be published and discussed with regulators. (PR Newswire)
Away from the clinic, Lilly has been talking up manufacturing and access. A senior executive told Reuters the company wants India to become “a hub” in its global supply chain as it works through a previously committed $1 billion push into contract manufacturing, and said the group believes Mounjaro is priced “appropriately” even as Novo Nordisk faces looming generic pressure in India. (Reuters)
Lilly also added a smaller pipeline lever this week via a licensing deal. Australia’s CSL said it granted Lilly certain rights to develop and commercialize clazakizumab — an IL-6 antibody aimed at inflammation — for $100 million upfront plus potential milestone payments and royalties, calling it a “promising therapeutic candidate.” (Reuters)
But the psoriasis readout was topline and the study was open-label, meaning patients and doctors knew which treatment they were getting — a design that can complicate how cleanly results travel into routine care. And the usual overhangs remain: reimbursement, competition, and how quickly demand turns into shipped product at scale.
What investors watch next is less about today’s print and more about the calendar. A U.S. FDA decision is expected in April on Lilly’s experimental oral weight-loss pill orforglipron, after a filing showed the company had built $1.5 billion of pre-launch inventory for the drug. (Reuters)
